Lost in Time
by WhenTheQuestionIsAsked
Summary: After recieving a message from a distressed Rose Tyler, the Doctor and his companions, Amy, Rory, and River, must find out how to save a girl who doesn't want saving...before it's too late.   There will be familiar faces and new story lines. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first ever FanFiction and I am really excited. I've been waiting for someone to publish a story like this but I finally had to do it myself. I hope everyone enjoys it. Pretty please read and review so I know I'm not a complete failure. Thank you! **

**Summary: The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River just finish up a mission when they get a message from Rose Tyler. I know Rose is in a different universe with her family and the Meta-Crisis Doctor, but I needed to bring them in somehow. Also the Diviner and the Psychlofo's are my own creation. I will try to explain what it is. Post 6****th**** Season of Doctor Who. **

**Chapter One: A Message from Beyond**

The Doctor launched the** TARDIS **off into space with a great "Geronimo" while River, Amy, and Rory all caught their breath near the stairs.

"Never…" River panted. "Never…do…that…again!"

The Doctor turned back to his companions. "What?"

"We could've died back there!" Rory said. "What were those things?"

"Psychlofo's." the Doctor said joyously. "They are brilliant! Did you see all those people running for their lives!"

Amy frowned. "You seem very happy about that?"

The Doctor shook his head still smiling. "No of course not, I just can't believe no one had thought about controlling goldfish before, I mean it was _brilliant_! Goldfish!"

Amy nodded, making a face. "Yes I still smell like a fishbowl."

"You smell as wonderful as you always do." Rory said to his wife. To the Doctor he said "How did they do it, I mean, control Goldfish into attacking people?"

"That is an excellent question Mr. Pond." The Doctor pulled a plate-sized metallic disk with a hole in the middle of it out of his tweed jacket. "They used this."

No one said anything.

The Doctor's face fell a bit, pouting. "Well, isn't any one going to ask what it is?"

"What is it?" Rory asked.

The Doctor smiled broadly again. "It is-"

"Well it is obvious isn't it?" River leaned back against the railing of the stairs. "It is a teleport device that will temporally transport you to a point in time that you specify; usually con artists use it to protect investments. Probably a Model 4 Diviner, correct Doctor?"

The Doctor's face fell once again. "You are not _actually _transported anywhere, it is your surroundings that change. You tell it to show you something and it will show you. For example, if I asked 'will I always look this ridiculously handsome?' Then it will show me myself in thousand years still looking handsome." He stuck his tongue out at River.

River shrugged. "It basically is a technological way of telling the future."

"So, what, they used it to show them how they were going to take over the Earth?" Amy asked confused. "And it told them _goldfish _was the way they did it?"

"Correct."

Amy shook her head, her eyebrows raised. "I will never understand aliens."

"So what do we do with it now?" Rory asked.

"Well that's just it, I don't know." The Doctor said looking at the disk. "I mean, we can't let it fall into the wrong hands, claws, or tentacles. Especially tentacles." He made a face and rubbed his thumb and pointer finger together. "It would get all sticky with mucus."

"Keep it on the **TARDIS**, it'll be safe here." River said.

"Yes that is a good idea." The Doctor said sarcastically. "I'll go put it in my room."

Everyone froze.

"What?"

"You said your room." Amy said.

"Yes, I did."

Rory's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You have a room?"

"Well of course I do."

"You sleep?" River asked surprised.

The Doctor sighed. "Everyone needs a room."

"Do you sleep, Doctor?" Amy asked with raised eyebrows.

"Why must we always talk about me?" the Doctor asked, sliding between the companions and up the stairs. "'Who is River Song and what does she have to with the Doctor's future?', 'What is the Doctor's real name?', and 'Does the Doctor sleep?' Honestly Ponds, don't you have better things to do with your time?"

With that the Doctor disappeared into the corridor, leaving his annoyed companions speechless.

As the Doctor walked through the corridor, he passed Amy and Rory's room. He didn't really like thinking about their room since he had discovered that River had been conceived on the **TARDIS**, it just made him feel a little awkward. It was almost as awkward as when he passed River's door…his wife's door.

The Doctor shuddered a bit at the thought. What would _he _do in _her _room?

The Doctor wouldn't admit it, but he was more scared of that thought than of an army of Daleks.

The Doctor continued down the corridor to his room.

"That man drives me mad." River said shaking her head. "He's brilliant and I love him, but he drives me mad."

Amy laughed. "Yes I think he leaves that kind of impression on everyone."

"Well, I for one," said Rory. "Don't _love _him."

"Oh, Rory, sweet wonderful, Rory," Amy said, pressing her forehead to his. "Yes you do."

Rory sighed.

River opened her mouth but a loud BEEP kept her getting a word out.

"You have received a message." Said the calm, ghostly voice of the **TARDIS **interface.

River, Rory, and Amy looked to one another, looking for an explanation.

River turned and spoke to the control panel of the **TARDIS**. "A message from whom?"

There was a pause as the **TARDIS **searched for an answer. "Unknown."

"From what year?" River tried again.

"Unknown."

River through her hands up, exasperated. "What _can_ you tell us?"

There was another pause and then. "Bad Wolf has returned to the **TARDIS**."

River froze. "What?"

"Bad Wolf has returned to the **TARDIS**."

"What does that mean?" asked Amy.

River said nothing.

"What is 'Bad Wolf'?" Amy asked.

"Bad Wolf is—was—someone the **TARDIS **created to save the Doctor." River was surprised and little afraid, which Rory found unsettling.

"Someone?"

"A companion. A companion who looked into the Heart of the **TARDIS **and it did…things to her." River shivered a bit.

"What kind of 'things'?" Rory asked.

"It made her inhuman." River said. "The Heart of a **TARDIS **in a human body. It should have killed her."

"It didn't?"

River shook her head.

"Then why did it say that Bad Wolf has returned?"

River said nothing.

"What are we all standing around looking glum for?" said the Doctor as he appeared at the top of the stairs. "You're not all still upset that I didn't answer your question, are you?"

River spoke to the control panel. "Repeat transmission."

"You have received a message."

"Oooh, a message." The Doctor rubbed his palms together. "From whom?"

"Unknown."

The Doctor frowned. "From what year?"

"Unknown."

"What can you tell us?" River said again, monotone.

"Bad Wolf has returned to the **TARDIS**."

The Doctor stopped smiling. "What?"

"Bad Wolf has returned to the **TARDIS**."

"Make it stop saying that!" Amy exclaimed, shaken by the now eerie message.

"Doctor?" River looked to the frozen man. "What are you going to do?"

The Doctor didn't look at her. "Open message."

A hologram of a small, dark-haired woman in a black and white dress-suit appeared near River, who jumped back in surprise and joined her parents near the Doctor.

The hologram woman smiled broadly and said in a honey sweet voice, without true emotion "This message requires a voice password for the 'Doctor'. If you are not the 'Doctor', please cancel this message relay and continue on your way. If you are the 'Doctor', then please give the password."

"What's the password?" Amy asked the Doctor who did not reply.

River looked at the hologram woman. "Bad Wolf."

The hologram woman shook her head and, still smiling, said. "Bad Wolf is not the correct password."

"Doctor?" Amy tried again but the Doctor remained still, his face frozen in surprise. "Doctor, you have to open it."

"Do I?" said the Doctor quietly. He snapped his head up and gave a hard laugh. "Why should I? Hmm Amelia Pond? Why should I?"

Amy was a little shocked at the Doctor's reaction. "What-what if it's important. What if someone needs your help?"

"It wouldn't matter if anyone near the person who must have sent this message needed help, because I couldn't help them!"

"Why?" said Amy, angry now at the way the Doctor was treating her.

"Because they aren't even in this universe, they aren't anywhere where I could help them. Not without destroying our universe and theirs."

"I don't understand."

The Doctor smiled a bit. "I don't want you to have to."

Amy couldn't think of what to say.

"Maybe they've figured out a way around that sweetie." River said quietly.

"Yes maybe they have." The Doctor looked at the hologram. "Or maybe it's a trick."

"Does it matter?" River said. "Would you really risk their lives—the lives of the people you love?"

The Doctor said nothing.

"Just give her the password sweetie."

"Do you _know_ the password?" Rory asked.

The Doctor looked at each of their faces. He finally settled on the River's.

"Do you know what will happen?" he asked her.

"For once, Doctor, you must take the slow path." She responded.

The Doctor said nothing.

"Doctor?" Amy tried. "What are you going to do?"

The Doctor smiled. "I'm going to save her."

"Save who?"

"I'm going to save—"he looked at the hologram. "Rose Tyler."

The hologram smiled. "Rose Tyler is the correct password."

The hologram changed into a different image. This image was of a young blonde woman in a once stylish but now torn, black suit with a dark, pink blouse. The blouse had dark smudges of what looked like ash and dried blood on it. There was a small, but deep looking cut above her left eyebrow streaked with dried blood. Her hair was matted with the same dark substance as on her shirt and blood. She smiled sadly.

"Doctor, if you're getting this message, then I'm dead."

**I cannot stress this enough: please, please review. Leave comments, say whatever, it doesn't even have to be about the story. Just talk about your day. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you ****Dreamcatcher49****, ****uzumaki misaki****, ****and****AkumakoRonso, ****you were my first 3 reviews! I love you all so very much and thanks to you I was able put up this chapter! Everyone give Dreamcatcher49, uzumaki misaki, and AkumakoRonso a round of applause …Pause for dramatic effect…Okay are you ready? **

**Summary: After a mission, the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River recieve an eerie message form Rose Tyler, one that will change their lives. **

**Chapter Two: Last Words**

"Doctor, if you're getting this message, then I'm dead."

The room froze. It was almost as if time had stopped. No one could breathe. No one could speak.

"I'm sorry to tell you like this, but I don't have a lot of time to explain. I know you're trying to figure out how I'm sending this message, but it will all be explained in time." Rose's image was calm, but serious. "In a very short time our paths will cross—" The Doctor opened his mouth, a confused look on his face, but the hologram of Rose held up her hand. "You have to stop thinking about how this is possible and listen to me."

No one spoke. Rose continued.

"When we meet again, I am going to ask you for your help." Rose stopped for a moment; her eyes began to tear up. "Doctor, you must not help me."

The Doctor stood up straight and yelled. "Why not?"

"Don't talk to me like that." Rose said.

"How is she doing that?" Rory whispered, looking around the room suspiciously.

"She just knows him that well." River whispered back.

"I know that goes against everything you've ever done, but Doctor, you have to listen to me." Rose ran her hand though her hair. "I've seen what happens if you help me and it makes the universe collapsing into the Void look like an okay thing."

The Doctor's lips tried to form words but he just couldn't get any out.

"Doctor, I…" Rose's hologram seemed to groping for words too. She smiled and laughed, but winced a bit from the cut above her eye. "It's just I, had this whole speech planned and now…now I can't think of what to say. This just keeps happening doesn't it though? I mean five years ago, we were on a beach having a conversation almost like this. Except, then you were telling me I was dead and telling me good-bye, now here I am telling _you_ I'm dead and telling _you _good-bye. It's almost funny isn't, in a crazy way?"

The Rose hologram began to cry a little, but she laughed a bit as she wiped away a tear. "I told myself I'd be grown up about this and not cry. You can see how that worked out."

"Rose." The Doctor whispered. This was killing him, watching her like this, knowing he couldn't touch her, no matter how realistic the image looked. He felt a tear run down his cheek. He felt someone grab his hand. It was Amy, she held his hand tightly, as if she were keeping him grounded, afraid that if she let go she'd lose her Doctor.

A voice surrounded them, not the **TARDIS**'s calm, serene voice, but a cold, electronic voice that came from the hologram's message. "All passengers evacuate to escape pods. Two minutes until impact."

Rose wiped another tear off her cheek and smiled. "Told you: we even have the same amount of time as last time."

Rory watched as the Doctor stepped away from his wife and towards the hologram. Rory had an idea of what he must be feeling. He remembered when he could hear Amy crying a begging for help when the Silence had kidnapped her. He had even killed Amy once. Was the Doctor thinking this was his fault, like Rory had?

Of course he was.

Rose straightened her posture. "Doctor, since I have time, there are a few more things that I'd like to say: I don't regret a second of my time with you. Not a second. Not a second of our time together or my time with John."

"John?" the Doctor said. John had to be the Meta Crisis Doctor, the Doctor born in battle.

"Oh, God, John." She cried, as she remembered something important. "If…if you see him, tell him…" Rose cried, but a realization seemed to come over her as she spoke. "No, don't tell him anything. Don't. I don't know what he'll do, and he needs to be stable for Noble."

"Noble?" Donna? What was Donna doing there? And how could she be there and alive? The very memory of him could kill her. The Doctor stepped forward again, closer to the image, the image that would no doubt be forever burned in his mind. He pushed out the other thoughts as he watched his Rose cry, knowing he could nothing.

The cold voice sounded again. "60 seconds until impact."

Rose looked up, seeing something the others couldn't, or maybe just looking above for help. Tears ran freely down her face. She didn't even try to stop them now, but took a ragged breath and continued.

"I forgive you for what you said—what you're going to say, I guess. That is, if you'll forgive me, for what I'll say. I didn't mean any of it; I was just angry and hurt. I didn't understand why you wouldn't help. I do now."

"What? How?" the Doctor yelled at the hologram. "There is no way you could possibly know! I can still save you Rose!"

"Doctor—" Amy tried to comfort her distressed friend. She couldn't stand seeing the strongest man (well Time Lord) she'd ever known being in so much pain. She could see the pain on his face. She could see through the Doctor most of the time; even when he was at his worst, he could still smile and pretend he was happy. But Amy always saw, just like he always saw through her.

"Amy."

Amy snapped out of her reverie and looked at the new face, shocked at hearing her name pass her lips as if she knew her.

"Amy," said the hologram of the dead girl. "I hope you and your husband don't take what I say to heart, I just wanted to hurt the Doctor like he had hurt me. I hope you understand that, and I wish you all the best."

"How does she know me?" Amy asked.

"She's met you; you just haven't met her yet." River explained.

Amy looked back at her grown daughter. She was crying; silent tears ran down her face slowly.

"Did you know her?" Amy asked.

River said yes at the same time the Doctor said no. The Doctor whipped his head back to look at River. "What? That's not possible, how?"

River shook her head and opened her mouth just as the hologram of Rose spoke.

"And River, it was nice seeing you again. I hope you and the Doctor figure it out, because, I have this feeling that you are very important." Rose said knowingly.

The Doctor took another step towards the hologram, drawn towards it. Drawn towards her, even this pixelated version of her. Just seeing Rose made his hearts beat faster, like they had a purpose other than to just keep him alive.

"Doctor, I know I've already said this but I need to say it again, because I know you'll hate yourself if I don't make it clear: I forgive you."

The Cold Voice spoke again. "Impact in ten, nine…"

Rose jumped, shaking. Tears fell like rain down her terrified face. "Doctor..."

"Seven, six…"

"But I need to tell you, since I never got the chance to say it," Rose was speaking faster, trying to beat the limited time the ship had set on her heart.

The Doctor stepped to the side of Rose, looking at her as if she were his salvation, tears falling from his eyes as he watched her start shaking.

"It was really great seeing you again." Rose sobbed and turned and faced the Doctor, just a few short inches from him, knowing that he would be there. "And…and I will always love you."

"Four, three…"

The message ended and the image of Rose disappeared in thin air.

Again, time stood still. No one spoke, only the steady hum of the **TARDIS **and the Doctor's ragged breaths.

River stepped forward to the control panel and programmed some coordinates into it. There was no crashing around or whooshing noise like there would've been if the Doctor had done it. And for once, the Doctor appreciated this.

Once they had landed, he spoke, his voice hollow and unfeeling. "Where are we?"

"Earth, December of 2011." River said her voice shaky. "Cardiff."

The Doctor didn't respond.

"She was Bad Wolf?" Amy said. This seemed to be the only thing she could think of saying. Maybe 'I'm sorry' would have been better, but she knew that would only make _her _feel better, not the catatonic Doctor.

Indeed it was River who answered. "Yes."

"How did she save the Doctor?"

"She saved everyone."

"How? What did you mean she looked into the heart of the **TARDIS**?"

"I sent her to safety…" the Doctor said without looking at them, but continued to stare at the empty spot where the hologram had stood. "She came back…she let the **TARDIS **into her body. It would have driven her mad if I hadn't…"

The Doctor trailed off.

"Hadn't what?" Amy pushed. If he was talking, then there was hope.

"If I hadn't taken the energy into myself. It caused a regeneration." He said, off handedly. "She doesn't remember a thing. She doesn't even know she brought someone back to life and made them immortal."

"What?"

"Captain Jack Harkness." This was the only answer she got.

"I'm sorry sweetie." River said.

The Doctor said nothing for a moment. When he turned around, it made Rory pull his wife closer to him and farther away from River. The Doctor was looking at River in such a way that he'd never seen before, not even when they'd found out that Amy had been taken by the Silence and they'd been living with a Ganger. And Rory thought the Doctor had been angry then, this was nowhere near there. This was galaxies away from there.

"How do you know her?" The Doctor asked his voice steady despite his expression.

"Spoil—"

"Don't. You. Dare."

River stopped speaking a stepped farther back from the Doctor, from her husband. "We met in the…past."

"Who's past?" he snapped.

"Ours."

River knew that she couldn't give the Doctor a straight answer and knew that he knew that too.

"I'm sorry." She said again.

The Doctor turned away from her. "She was alone."

He had whispered it and Amy hadn't heard him well. "What?"

He turned back to face her, the angry man he had just was been broken with grief. "She was alone, Amy, she died alone and scared."

Amy rushed forward and hugged him. He fell to pieces in her arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." These were the only words she could say now that she really meant them, now that they weren't just words to make her feel better. Now that he really needed to hear them.

River and Rory stood there, feeling powerless as they watched the two people they cared about most in the universe cry, knowing they could do nothing.

And then, there was knock on the **TARDIS**'s door. One knock but it seemed to shake the entire ship. The Doctor's tears waned and Amy stopped speaking. All four of them looked at the doors.

There was another knock.

"Who could that be?" Rory whispered.

No one spoke, but River walked over to the door and opened as the Doctor parted from Amy and wiped away his tears.

They all knew deep down, even Rory, who would at the door, yet they were all still shocked as River opened the door and a new but familiar woman stood there in Jeans and blue sweater with a black bag at her feet.

"Did you miss me?" Rose Tyler said smiling broadly.

** Please, please, please, review!**

**P.S. ****AkumakoRonso, I hope I did what you asked. I tried and I will keep trying.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you everyone who reviewed, you are the most amazing people ever.**

**Chapter Three: the Beginning of the End**

"Did you miss me?" Rose Tyler said smiling broadly. Rose looked at each of their faces. She didn't recognize the young man and woman who were standing there with their mouths open. When her eyes landed on the frizzy-haired woman, who looked like she had been crying, she quickly turned away so no one would notice she had instantly recognized her. At a closer glance at everyone she realized they all looked like they had been crying, not just River Song.

"Who died?" Rose laughed, stepping into the **TARDIS**. When no one said anything, but looked even more upset, Rose realized what she'd said. "Oh, God, who died?"

"Rose." said a man in a tweed jacket with a red bowtie standing near the controls.

Rose stepped closer to the unfamiliar man. No, he was familiar. Familiar because she would recognize those old eyes anywhere.

"Doctor." Rose ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Doctor, it's you."

It took a moment but the man wrapped his arms around her in return, awkwardly at first, but then tightly, so tightly that she was grasping for breath.

"Doctor…Doctor, I can't breathe!" she exclaimed, laughing.

The Doctor pulled back so he could look at her, but didn't let go. "No, no you can breathe and that is good, that is brilliant."

"Well, you're excited to see me." Rose said smiling. "I was beginning to think you weren't."

The Doctor put his hands on either side of her face. "No Rose, I am, I really am."

"Hullo." Rory said with a little wave. He still had a dumbfounded look on his face, but he seemed to realize that it was important that someone said something. "I'm Rory, this is my wife, Amy."

Amy waved stiffly.

"New companions?" Rose smiled at them.

"That's us." Amy said putting on a very awkward smile. She pointed to River. "This is River, River Song."

Rose turned back to the familiar face and held out her hand. "Rose."

"River." River shook her hand uncertainly. "I have to say, I'm little confused on how you're here."

Rose's face fell as she looked back at the Doctor. "I have so much to tell you."

Rose led them through the cold, crowded streets of Cardiff. Amy and Rory had never been to Cardiff and were surprised at how much bigger it was than their little home town.

"So, Rose," Amy said as she ducked behind Rory before she was run over by a stroller. "Where are we going?"

"Headquarters." Rose called over her shoulder.

"Right, headquarters." Amy yelled over the crowd. She stepped up closer to the Doctor. "What are you going to do?"

"About?" he said matching her quiet tone. There was no chance that Rose could hear them over the chaos of Christmas shoppers, but they didn't want to risk it.

"About Rose, I mean how are you going to tell her that she's going to die?"

"She knows she's going to die." The Doctor said, offhandedly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Amy stopped him. She lowered her voice again. "I thought we just watched a message from the future?"

The Doctor looked ahead at where Rose and the others were gaining on them. "She knows she's going to die, she just doesn't know when, how, or why."

"I don't understand." Amy stopped him again.

The Doctor sighed loudly and pulled Amy quickly towards the others. "Everyone dies Amy; Rose knows that, maybe better than anyone. And maybe just as well as I do. That is why she sent a message to me and not John or her mother. Because she knows I'm not going to stop her."

"But she's your friend."

This time the Doctor stopped them. "No, no she's not my friend: she is the only human I have ever truly loved."

Amy stared at her Doctor. _The only human I have ever truly loved_. Did that mean he didn't love her? No—no that wasn't the kind of love he meant; he didn't mean just mean friends.

"You were in love with her." it wasn't a question.

The Doctor said nothing but began walking after Rose, River, and Rory, leaving Amy in the middle of the pavement, with her mouth open.

Rose took them to, no other place, but her old flat.

"I haven't been here in years!" the Doctor said as they stepped through the door. He pointed to a chair in the sitting room. "I almost had my face pulled off by a plastic hand, right there!"

Rose laughed and pointed to her mother's old room down the hall, happy to be playing the game with her Doctor. "And that's where we were almost killed by a Christmas tree!"

The Doctor and Rose laughed at their own private joke as River, Rory, and an angry looking Amy watched.

"I thought you had a lot to tell us." Amy snapped at Rose.

"Right, yeah, I did." Rose said, sitting down in a chair, setting her black bag down next to her. "So what do you want to know?"

"How did you get here?" it was River who asked.

"There is hole in the Void. My Earth is in a complete Time Lock; no one on Earth can move. It's like time has just stopped."

"How did you get here if Earth Two is in a Time Lock?" the Doctor asked.

"I was on a mission for Torchwood when I got the call, most people were evacuated onto different planets and ships, but there is still at least two million people left on Earth."

"And your family?" the Doctor asked, concerned.

"Mum, Dad, and Tony are with John and Noble on the Torchwood II."

Rory and Amy exchanged looks but it was the Doctor who spoke. "John and Noble?"

Rose smiled a Rose Smile, the one that looks like she has delicious secret. "You've met John; you may actually know him almost as well as he knows himself."

The Doctor smiled. "The Meta-Crisis Doctor? What does he call himself now?"

"John Smith." Rose laughed and pointed to her ringer finger. "And, you are looking at Mrs. John Smith."

"Congratulations Rose." He looked at her hand where a diamond ring glinted. "And Noble is…"

"Our daughter." Rose smiled and pulled a picture out of the black bag. It was of three people: an obviously tall, laughing man, with spiky hair in jeans and black suit jacket lying down across a laughing Rose's lap. Both were looking at a little blond haired girl laughing and clapping her hands, who was sitting in between them.

"She is beautiful." The Doctor said, awestruck as he took the picture from her.

"How did you find us?" Rory asked.

Rose grinned and reached into her black back once again. She pulled out a large glass jar filled with bubbling, murky water, and…

"Oh, my God is that a _hand_?" Amy exclaimed, repulsed.

"Yes, the Doctor's to be exact." Rose replied, stuffing it back into the bag. "I borrowed it from Jack."

"I still don't understand how _that _helped you find us." Rory said moving away from the bag.

"It senses the Doctor. I've been here for weeks just waiting for him to show up." Rose took the picture back from the Doctor. "I miss them so much."

"How old is she?" Amy asked quietly.

"She just turned two." Rose said as if she couldn't believe it. "She's growing up so fast."

Amy smiled and looked at River. "Yea, I know what you mean."

"Doctor, that's why I've been looking for you," Rose said, finality clear in her voice. "I need to get back to them. I need your help Doctor; I need you to help me save my world."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "No."

Roses face fell a bit in confusion. "'No' what?"

The Doctor stood up and looked at his companions. "Are you ready to go?"

No one spoke.

"We can sight see a bit before we go, if you'd like?"

Rose stood up. "What the hell do you mean, 'no'"

The Doctor smiled. "Rose, Rose, Rose, why would I help you?"

"Because that's what you do, you save me, just like I save you." Rose sputtered.

The Doctor smiled, shaking his head. "That was before I had new companions. I mean when I was with Donna and Martha and you still needed help, it was…cute. But this 'help me the world's ending' routine has gotten old, luv."

Rose shook her head as tears began to fall from her eyes. "Why are you saying these things?"

The Doctor grabbed her shoulders and shook her a bit. "Because it's not sinking in. Rose: I don't want to help you anymore. To be frank—" he turned to Rory and Amy. "I have been a Frank before, it was quite fun." He turned back to Rose. "To be frank, I don't even want to see you anymore."

"But when you saw me earlier on the **TARDIS **you seemed happy to see me?"

"Well, that was when I thought you were just popping by for a quick chat." He said annoyed. "And not planning on asking for a favor."

"A 'favor'?" Rose said disgusted. "Saving Earth is now a _favor_ to you?"

"Well, it is when it's not my Earth, now is it?" he said quietly.

"Why are you saying these things?" Rose asked again.

"Rose, just go home, I'm sure things will work out." He kissed her on the forehead and turned to the others. "Ready?"

"Doctor," Amy said as she felt tears form in her eyes.

"Doctor! I'm not through talking to you, don't turn away from me!" Rose yelled at him.

Amy saw the Doctor's face flash with pain. He knew what was about to happen. _That is, if you'll forgive me, for what I'll say. I didn't mean any of it; I was just angry and hurt. _ Rose had said that after she told him for the first time she had forgiven him what he'll say.

The Doctor changed his feature so that he looked annoyed. "What now Rose did your mum fall and break her hip?"

"Is this all we are to you, us old companions who you have forgotten about, collateral damage?" Rose threw her hands up. "Just come into our lives, do what you want, and then leave us lost?"

"I didn't say that. We had fun Rose, but that's over. Get over it."

"What about Donna, did she have fun? Or Martha?" Rose pointed out. "Martha's family is still in therapy and Donna will never know why she's so unhappy with her life."

"I'm not the only one who has ruined lives." The Doctor claimed. "What about Jack? You ruined his life, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about!"

"Doesn't matter." He turned to the shocked onlookers. "Come along Ponds."

"Yes Ponds," Rose said sarcastically. "Come along, so I can ruin your lives too. Because, that's what he'll do to you, make you feel amazing and then tell you you're worthless."

"Doctor…" Amy whispered.

"We have to go, now." He whispered back.

"But—" the Doctor grabbed her wrist and pulled her out the door and the others followed.

Rose followed them out, crying and yelling. "Millions of people are going to die because of you!"

"Well, I guess that's too bad." Were the Doctor's last words.

But Rose's words were. "I hate you Doctor."

Rose watched as the Doctor and his companions left. She was so angry, so hurt, that she couldn't even cry anymore.

He wasn't going to help. He was just going to let them all die. Rose slowly turned back around and into the house. She didn't even shut the door as she grabbed the black bag from the living room and her bag of clothes from her own room. She pulled a small circular button from her bag of clothes. She could feel nothing, but a single tear fell from her eye as she closed her eyes and pressed the button. There was a white flash and when she opened her eyes again she was surrounded by people in lab coats.

A red haired woman walked up to her, smiling.

"Welcome back Rose, so where is he?" Donna Noble asked.

**Thanks again, see you in a few days. Keep reading fans!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow you all are really amazing! I can't believe the response I'm getting. I have to admit, this chapter may be a little slow. Who has already set their Tivo or DVR to record the Christmas special of Doctor Who? I have!**

**Chapter Four: Fearless**

"What do you mean 'he's not coming'?" Donna said, all her usual attitude gone.

Rose fastened the middle button on her suit over her stiff dark, pink blouse. Whenever she was at work she had to dress the part of being in charge of a major security agency and not a shop girl from Cardiff. John had told her this over dinner one night after she had complained about how hard it was running in heels.

_"It's all about image with Torchwood." He said cutting up Noble's spaghetti noodles._

_ Rose laughed at John's hesitant feelings towards Torchwood. "Speaking of over compensating, why are you cutting up her noodles?"_

_ John had gotten serious._

_ "Have you seen how long these buggers are?" he finished up. "She could choke."_

_ Rose shook her head, laughing. "I can't wait to see how you act when she starts bringing boys home."_

_ "How could she do that? She'll be under house arrest as soon as she reaches puberty." John didn't look at his wife as he peppered his own dinner. He said matter-of-factly, "That is if she's anything like her mother."_

_ Rose threw a long noodle at him which hit him smack in the face. "Oi, if she's anything like you, we'll never see her after she gets out of school!"_

_ John peeled the noodle off of his face and said seriously. "Grow up Rose." He placed the noodle on his napkin then dug his big hand into his own pasta and threw a handful of it straight at her before she could react._

_ Rose looked at him, her face turning red with anger as pasta and meatballs rolled off her head. "You did not just do that!"_

_ John put his chin on his palm and straightened his glasses. "Oh, I think I did."_

_ Rose picked up her plate and dumped it over his head, which made the now attentive Noble laugh and clap happily._

_ "Do it again mummy, do it again!" she jumped up and down on her chair._

_ They spent the rest of dinner throwing food at each other, laughing and swearing revenge against one another. After they had given Noble a bath and had read her to sleep, they went back to dining room to clean up. _

_ Rose picked up a plate and mutilated meatball rolled off, plopping on the floor. She frowned. "This is going to take forever to—"_

_ She was stopped by John's mouth on hers. He kissed her just as he had the first time that day on that beach in Bad Wolf Day. It was an amazing kiss, the kind that made her glad that Noble had gone to sleep quickly that night. He pulled her from the room and into their room at the end of the hall. _

_ The rest of the night became a blissful blur. _

"Rose, are you listening to me?" Donna said shaking her friend gently but adamantly. "When you say he's not coming, do you mean, he's not coming today, but he'll be around in the morning? Is he parking the **TARDIS**?"

Donna no longer seemed to be questioning Rose but begging her. The tears in the corner of Rose's eyes threatened to escape as she watched her best friend break down. Rose wrapped her arms around Donna who had started crying.

"He has to come." Donna whispered like a prayer in Rose's ear.

Rose said nothing.

"How are we going to tell the others?"

"I don't know."

Donna pulled away and wiped her tears away. She handed Rose the clip board she had set on Rose's desk.

Rose didn't look at it. "What is this going to tell me?"

"The mother ship has been spotted and it's set course for us. Mickey says that it has enough fire power to be here in minutes, but could just as easily kill us all from where they're at."

"Then why are they heading for us, if they could just shoot us down now?"

Donna looked grim. "Because where would be the fun in that, when they could do it in person?"

Rose didn't want to think about that.

"We have to tell the crew." Donna said flatly.

"How long does Mickey think we have?"

"Maybe three hours."

"How many escape pods do we have?"

"Just enough for half on board."

Rose slammed her fist down on her desk and cursed. "What the hell kind of ship is this? I thought we were supposed to be prepared for anything and everything?"

Rose took a deep breath and led the way out of her office. Donna's heels clicked on the metal flooring.

When Rose and Donna entered the main control room, Martha and Mickey were the first to see them. They smiled at first, but upon seeing their distraught faces, became serious.

"Well, where is he?" Mickey asked, crossing his arms over his bulked up chest.

Rose side stepped over the question. "Is Interface working still or has a solar flare knock it out again?"

"It's up." He replied, frowning.

"Then put me through." Rose stepped onto the Interface Pad and straightened her collar.

"What's happening Donna?" Martha whispered.

Donna shook her head, unable to answer.

Mickey turned the Interface on and Rose's face popped up on every screen throughout the ship. People stopped working and looked up at her. Everyone knew where she had been: looking for the man with all the answers, the man who could save them all, the Doctor. But she was alone on the screen and as she spoke, her steady words and anger in her eyes told them all what she was about to say.

"This is Captain Rose Tyler of the Torchwood I speaking. You all know where I've been and what I've been doing. You probably also have already heard rumors that I returned alone." Rose paused and took a deep breath. "This is true."

Though out the ship, no one spoke. Everyone in the control room had turned their attention away from the monitors and controls and onto Rose, the only person speaking.

"Before I left T1 I told you all I was going to go find our last hope." Rose addressed them all. "Well I was wrong, he wasn't our last hope."

"But did you find him, Captain?" asked a mousy little voice from behind Rose. Rose turned and looked for the person who had spoken.

A little light haired woman, maybe not even as old as Rose herself, rose her hand a bit. "Sorry Captain," the young woman stood and saluted. "Lieutenant Byrd speaking. Did you find him? This 'Doctor'?"

Rose opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Captain Tyler?" Mickey asked.

Rose didn't know what possessed her to shake her head, probably her inability to betray her Doctor. Even after everything that had just happened, she knew she could never tell someone that the Doctor was a coward.

"No, I didn't find him, but I learned that he was busy saving the universe there, so it wouldn't have mattered, he wouldn't have been able to help anyhow."

"But," Martha argued. "If you just would have waited a while longer, maybe—"

"No."

"But—"

"Martha, I'm sorry, but no."

Martha did not respond. Rose figured it must have been settling in, since it seemed Martha (even if they were good friends now) never stopped arguing with her. Rose always thought this was because she was still jealous somewhere deep down that Rose got the Doctor in end.

Rose turned back to the Interface monitor.

"I said that I was wrong in thinking the Doctor was our last hope and here's why: Phil Clarkson, he works in engineering. Phil is a father of two and takes care of his parents so they don't have to live in a nursing home. Phil has worked for Torchwood for five years and not once got a bonus. Neither has Mary Johnson. Mary and her wife, Sarah, donate at least four thousand dollars a year to funding research for Cancer."

The ship remained silent, but now it was because they were drawn in by the determination in Rose's voice.

"Every single one of us on this ship has spent the last few weeks just waiting to die. But along the way, we have saved millions. We have saved millions and we don't even know what we're fighting." Rose pointed back to the window behind her. "I'm guessing most of you have heard that the mother ship is on its way here and my bet is it's not for a cuppa tea."

A woman began to cry behind Rose.

"So here are your options: there are 150 crew members aboard this ship and 15 escape pods, which all hold five occupants. You can return to whatever planet or ship your family is on so you can say your goodbyes and spend what may be your last Christmas with them. Maybe prepare them for what is happening. You will not be labeled cowards if you choose to leave, but will leave with full honors; I'll make sure of this personally. That is Choice One, here is Choice Two: You can stay here and fight for your home and everyone you love on the front lines. Chances are you won't live to see midnight if that is your choice. No matter what you choose, please accept my blessings. If you are choosing to go, thank you for your services, Captain Smith will meet you in the departure rooms and send you on your way in twenty minutes. If you are choosing to stay, please meet me in the dining hall in ten for debriefing." Rose took a breath then continued. "For those of you who have someone waiting for you to come back like Phil and Mary, I am ordering you to get your asses down to the Departure Rooms."

Rose stepped off the Interface Pad and the screen turned off. The control room was frozen.

Rose turned to Lt. Byrd. "You have someone waiting for you?"

"Yes." The terrified woman whispered, remembering. "My boyfriend, Jeremy. We've been going steady for over two years. My friend said that he saw Jerry, looking at engagement rings a month ago. I think he was planning on purposing on Christmas."

"Then I suggest you go, now, before it gets too crowded."

And just like that the control room was empty all except Rose, Donna, Martha, and Mickey, who all stood there in an almost comfortable silence. Rose had hardly spoken on the Interface for a minute and already she felt time changing around her. Just like that.

"He's really not coming, is he?" Donna said.

"Mickey, you probably ought to head down there, so you can beat the crowds." Rose said, ignoring Donna's strained voice.

Mickey nodded but didn't move.

Martha kissed him. "Go."

Mickey nodded again and left the room.

"What now?" Donna asked.

"Grab you're things, you're leaving." Rose said turning from them. "Both of you, as soon as Mickey finishes up in the Departure Rooms. I'm right behind you."

"So go give your orders so you can go pack too." Martha said, but even she wasn't fooled by Rose.

Donna wasn't as subtle. She put her hands on her wide hips and glared at Rose. "You're not even going think about making us leave without you!"

Rose shook her head. "Of course not."

She knew that neither of her friends believed her, but they dropped the subject as they walked to the dining hall. The corridors were mostly empty, except for a few people in engineering who were checking over the ship.

It was Donna who took action upon seeing this.

"Alright, unless you're planning on staying, just go." She said, pulling a man away from the monitor. "It won't matter much, what you do now."

The man tried to salute her but she just told them all to get the hell out of there.

As they neared the dining hall, they heard a great turbulence of voices yelling over one another. As soon as they opened the door though, the room went dead quiet.

Rose was a little breathless. There must have been about 30 people in the room all together, which was way more than she thought she'd find, even with the lack of escape pods. Most were soldiers, but there were some engineer workers and medics. Rose only recognized about 9. She was about to lead them all to their deaths and she couldn't even remember theirs names.

Rose turned to Martha. "Maybe you should go help Mickey? He's going to be squeezing people in."

Martha hugged Rose, knowing she was really giving her more time with her husband. In her ear she whispered. "We can do this, I know we can."

Rose nodded and Martha left after giving Donna a hug as well. When Rose looked back to the crowed, well, the army, she was surprised to see Lt. Byrd walking up to them.

Lt. Byrd stopped in front of the crowd and saluted. "I couldn't leave Captain, I'm sorry to disobey orders."

To the girl's surprise, Rose hugged her.

"Now," she said, turning to the rest of the crowed. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

**I hope this chapter wasn't too slow! Thanks for reading and reviewing. How did you like the part with John and Rose, in Rose's flashback?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I really feel like the last two chapters have been really slow. I've rewritten this four times. It was also very, very hard to right because it is so entangled or just a tangled mess. Alkjdlkfgnljgh;/'glsjsjflkdsfh gjkjfasfsdF'L'f;sfpos. Sorry. That was just me hitting my head repeatedly on the keyboard. If you have any questions, just message/review me and I will fix/explain it.**

**I own almost nothing.**

**Chapter Five: River's Secret**

Everyone on the **TARDIS **had lost their bloody minds; at least that's what Amy thought.

"We have to do something!" Amy yelled at her husband.

"Could we risk it not being a fixed point? If you hadn't noticed, whenever we mess with the timeline, bad things happen!" He shouted back.

"What if we could save her life?" Amy said, outraged. "And how do we know that Rose's death is a fixed point?"

"Most deaths are." River said absently.

"But that doesn't mean hers is!" Amy yelled.

Finally the Doctor spoke for the first time since they had left Rose's. He sounded like he was far away, in a different time. "People die Amelia."

Amelia's eyes widened. "Aren't you even a little curious on how Rose knew where to send the message?"

The Doctor looked at her and blinked. "What?"

"Show me the last message…Um…Sexy." Amy said loudly to the **TARDIS**.

The Doctor shook his head. He looked tired. Telling the woman he loved that he wouldn't save her life had taken everything out of him. Everyone one could see it. His eyes had always looked older than his face, but today his face looked like it had aged ten years. "No, please, Amy, don't, just don't."

Amy didn't respond as the little dark haired woman hologram appeared.

"This message requires a voice password for the 'Doctor'. If you are not the 'Doctor', please cancel this message relay and continue on your way. If you are the 'Doctor', then please give the correct password." She said in her distant voice while smiling.

"I just want the information for this message, can I get that?" Amy asked the hologram uncertainly.

The hologram thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes."

"What kind of message is this?"

"It is a STM, also known as a Specific Time Message."

"Meaning whoever sent this message had to send it to an exact point in time?"

"Correct."

Amy looked at the Doctor who had pulled out his sonic screwdriver and was scanning the hologram. "How could she do that?"

"Do what?" Rory asked, trying to catch up.

"Know where we were so that she could send the message. I know she knows you pretty well Doctor, but someone had to of told her where to send the message." She looked around, waiting for someone to catch on. "Right?"

"That's right, how could she have known where we were?" the Doctor laughed like the mad man he was and kissed Amy on the forehead. "You are a genius Amelia Pond!"

"Did someone tell her?" Rory asked. "I mean, where we had just been?"

Amy shook her head. "No, we were all too afraid of bringing it up."

"But then how?" the Doctor asked.

Simultaneously all three looked at River who backed up and put her hands out in front of her as if they could shield her. "You know I can't tell you anything!"

"But we could save not just Rose, but all of her Earth!" Rory said, jumping on the What-Amy-Wants-Amy-Gets bandwagon again.

"What _can_ you tell us River?" the Doctor said quietly, crossing his arms over his chest.

River thought about this. "Ask and I'll answer what I can."

"Yes, because no one has suggest that yet." Rory muttered.

"How did Rose know where we were?" Amy asked.

"That, I swear I don't know."

"Fine," said the Doctor. "How do you know Rose?"

"We met in her past, but my future."

"Am I there?"

"Are any of us there?" Amy added.

"No it's just her and I."

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"But—" Amy began but the Doctor stopped her.

"Now there is only one thing to do." He said as he turned away from the rest of them and up the stairs. He called over his shoulder. "I'm going to go see my future holds. Care to come along Ponds?"

River, Amy, and Rory all looked at each other and smiled. They were finally going to get see the Doctor's bedroom.

The Doctor led them through a series of corridors for a few minutes. All of his companions couldn't seem stop smiling despite the situation.

"What does his room look like River?" Rory whispered.

"How should I know?"

"Well, you are married to him."

River raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't mean I've been in his bedroom."

"Then where do you..._sleep_?"

"Do you really want to go down that road _dad_?"

Rory sped up to catch up to the Doctor, his ears reddening.

Amy laughed at Rory's discomfort. Sometimes she had to even remind herself that River was her and Rory's daughter. And that she was part Time Lord. And that she was married to the Doctor. Amy wasn't sure which one of the three seemed more impossible.

Suddenly the Doctor stopped and motioned widely at a dull, brown door.

"That's it?" Amy said disappointed.

The Doctor frowned at their dissatisfied faces. "What were you expecting?"

"I dunno something more…flashy?"

"Flashy?" the Doctor said the word as if it tasted strange. "What kind of room do you keep all your souvenirs in?"

"Wait this is your _souvenir _room?" Rory said slowly.

"Yes, did you think I was taking you to my _actual _bedroom?"

River and Amy said no but Rory said "Well, kind of."

The Doctor laughed. "The day that happens is the day the universe ends in the Can't Be Undone Way."

The Doctor ushered them all inside and when they came out two minutes later, everyone—except the Doctor—was covered in a slimy substance that smelled a lot like chicken salad. Purple chicken salad.

"Well then, Rory, when I say, don't touch, that also means don't look at for too long." The Doctor said and Amy patted her husband's shoulder. "Also, you should never, under any circumstances play bagpipes or tubas in that room."

No one said anything. They just dripped as they waited for the Doctor to lead them back to the main control room.

"You just saw the souvenir room of a 907 year old Time Lord and you have nothing to say?"

A large glob of the smelly, purple substance rolled off of River's head. "We are…speechless, sweetie."

The Doctor smiled, happy with this and led them away, the Diviner in his left hand.

The others left the Doctor to go take a shower as he plugged some different colored cords into the curved sides of the Diviner and fastened it onto the main frame of the **TARDIS**. When they got back, he was just finishing up. Once they go there he stepped back so everyone could admire his handy work.

"So, how does it work?" Amy finally asked after a long moment of silence, her hair still dripping slightly.

"I have no idea." The Doctor sounded pleased. "But, when I do get it working, those cords should transport us all not just me."

Amy and River exchanged a look. "I'm guessing you threw the manual in to a black hole?"

"No, of course not. They don't make manuals for Diviners. Could you imagine what would happen if that kind of information was available to everyone?" the Doctor thought about this. "I mean, chances are, the Psychlofo were just lucky in learning that it was possible to take Earth over with Goldfish. It could have just as well told them that you could do it with, let's say, A+ blood-type."

"Well, that's just silly." Rory said.

The Doctor coughed to hide "Christmas 2006."

"Yes that's all lovely information, but what does it mean?" Amy was tired and smelly; she really didn't need to know the science of a device that shouldn't exist in the realm of the sane.

"It means that this beautiful machine—" the Doctor looked at the Diviner lovingly. "Can do more than show you the future, it can _tell _it to you."

"Yes you explained this all before, Doctor."

The Doctor sighed and turned to River. "She's just not getting it."

River took over from here. "Remember how Rose said that she had seen what the future would look like if the Doctor had helped?"

Amy and Rory nodded.

"How do you think she did that?"

"With the Diviner?" Rory asked doubtfully.

"Or we told her…" the Doctor put in.

Amy finally caught on. "You think we save her?"

River and the Doctor exchanged a look.

"But how is this going to explain how Rose knew where we were?" Amy asked.

"Well, it doesn't but I'm sure when we save her, she'll explain."

"No, this isn't making any sense Doctor." Amy said. "How would she send that message _after_ she was rescued? I mean, I don't know Rose, but she seemed to _really _afraid. If we save her why would she send that message? Another thing, how is there a hole in the Void? I thought that was fixed a long time ago? And _how in hell is that bloody device supposed to give us any answers_!"

The Doctor, as always, hadn't thought this through completely. Basically he had just thought _this is almost a plan, it must work_. He was just so obsessed with getting Rose back, safe and well that he really didn't care how he did it. He looked at River for some answers but she didn't even seem to be listening.

Yes, River had no idea that anyone was even talking anymore, she was lost in time, somwhere she had already been, but not yet at the same time.

_"You have to do what I say Rose." River said at the kitchen table in Rose's country home._

_ "How do I know you are who you say you are?" Rose asked suspiciously._

_ "Whether I am who I say I am doesn't matter, it just matters whether or not you trust me or not."_

_ "And does it really do what you say it does?"_

_ River nodded. Before Rose could say anything else her mobile rang. It was Torchwood._

_ She nodded a few times and said she understood and that she'd make the necessary calls. When she hung up she looked at River with hard eyes. "It seems your presence here opened a hole in the Void."_

_ "I'm sorry about that." River said. But to tell the truth it was the farthest thing from her mind. She needed to say what she came here to say. "In about three in half years, you're going to have to use this, Rose. I know that it is hard to trust me, but if you want to protect the ones you love, you have to do what I say."_

_ Rose was listening now. "Which is?"_

_ "When the time comes when you feel you have been betrayed by the Doctor, you will ask this a question: What would happen if the Doctor had come to help us?"_

_ "The Doctor would never betray me." Rose said instantly._

_ "You're right."_

_ "Then why?"_

_ "Because, you have to, to protect not only the Doctor, but your unborn child."_

_ "My _what_?"_

_ River grabbed Rose's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "You're going to have a child, Rose."_

_ "How did you know I'm pregnant? I haven't even told John yet." Rose put her free hand on her stomach. "I mean, I just found out this morning!"_

_ River said nothing._

_ "You really are who you say you are?"_

_ "Yes. Will you do what I ask?"_

_ Rose nodded. She had a few silent tears on her cheeks. "What's going to happen to my family? My friends?"_

_ River smiled. "They are going live, Rose, I swear."_

_ "And…and me?"_

_ River's face fell. _

"_You're a hero Rose." Was all River said._

_Rose wiped a tear away and picked up the Diviner, examining it. "How does it work?"_

"_You tap right here. It should light up, make some noise, and then you ask your question when the time comes. I think."_

"_You're not sure?"_

"_I've only seen it used one time."_

"_Brilliant. And this will save everyone?"_

"_Yes. Most everyone."_

_Rose looked away, afraid of what River meant by that. "Did the Doctor send you?"_

"_No."_

"_But you got this from him?"_

_River smiled. "More or less."_

"_You stole it?"_

_River shrugged._

"_Did you really kill the Doctor?"_

_River paused. "Yes, but he didn't die."_

_River could tell by Rose's expression, she believed this. Or she wanted to._

"_I have to go." _

_Rose just stared at the Diviner, one had still on her stomach, absently. Before River left the room, she said "You name her Noble."_

_River took the back door out because she heard someone driving up. When she passed the front widow of the country house, she saw Rose and the Doctor—no John Smith—talking. River couldn't hear them but she knew what was happening._

_Rose was telling her new husband she was pregnant. She looked uncertain of how he would respond. His face seemed to be frozen in a look of confusion, but he put his hand on her stomach and smiled, he smiled so wide that River thought his face would break. Even through the window, River could hear him yell "We're having a baby!"_

_John picked up Rose and swung her around. River watched his lips as he spoke. He was repeatedly saying I love you, I love you, I love you…_

_River smiled as she lifted her wrist and with a press of a button, she was gone. _

"River, are you with us?" Amy asked, breaking River out of the memory.

"The Diviner will tell us what will happen." Was all she said as not to give away any details to her confused loved ones.

Amy was exasperated. None of this made any kind of sense.

"But how does it work?" the Doctor said pulling out his screw driver and bleeping it. "I bet it is incredibly difficult, it must be. It is such a powerful device it must be next to impossible to activate."

Rory smiled doubtfully. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get it." He tapped the machine and it began to light up with a great rushing noise that filled the room like an ocean crashing in on them. The **TARDIS** shook and rolled.

"Well done Rory! Well done!" the Doctor yelled over the chaos. "I forgot how incredible stupid Psychlofo are! I mean _goldfish_? Who does that?"

"Was that a compliment?" Rory yelled.

And then there was silence.

They were still in the **TARDIS**, but everything seemed to be foggy.

"What is your question Rory Williams?" said a familiar voice.

Everyone turned and looked at a second Amy who was dressed as a policewoman.

"What the hell is that? A Ganger?" asked Amy backing away.

"No, since it was Rory who activated the Diviner, it dug into his subconscious and chose who Rory trust the most." The Doctor explained but scanned the apparition anyway.

"So Rory you trust me most when I'm dressed like a policewoman?" Amy raised her eyebrows. "That's good to know for later reference."

Rory smiled and turned red a bit, but didn't answer. Instead he looked at the Doctor. "So I have to ask the question?"

"Yes."

"Which is?"

"What would happen if the Doctor had helped Rose."

"Okay, um Diviner?"

"Yes Rory Williams?"

"What would happen if the Doctor had helped Rose?"

The Diviner blinked. "Invalid question."

"What?" the Doctor and Rory said together.

"This question has been asked before."

"You can't answer something someone asked before?" asked the Doctor.

"I only answer to Rory Williams." The Diviner said. She blinked again. "You should read the manual."

Rory smiled at this. "I could get used to this. OW!"

Amy had punched him in the shoulder.

"Fine, fine, you can't answer something that's been asked before?"

"Correct."

"Then how did the Psychlofo—Rory ask it how the Psychlofo got the answer to taking over Earth, that question must have been asked a million times."

"How did the Psychlofo get the answer to taking over Earth?"

"They asked if they could take the Earth over with Goldfish. No one had asked that before."

"Not so stupid now, am I?" Rory smiled.

The Doctor ignored him. "Ask it who asked the original question."

"Who asked you what would happen if the Doctor had help Rose?"

The Diviner blinked again. "Rose Tyler."

The Doctor didn't miss a beat. "When?"

"When?" Rory repeated.

"December 24, 2011, 9:31 PM."

"That's all." The Doctor said, looking almost satisfied.

"That's—"

"Wait." The Doctor put a hand on Rory shoulder and Rory waited for the Doctor to speak.

"Ask it…ask it when Rose Tyler dies."

Rory relayed the question.

The Diviner Amy opened its mouth, but a confused expression crossed her face. "We have one recorded death for Rose Tyler, but our sources say it is not entirely…accurate."

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"The eight of July in the year 2006."

"Are you sure that's the right Rose Tyler?" Amy asked.

"Yes." The Doctor said.

"So that's good news, right?" Amy looked around at her companions. "That means that she doesn't die and we save her."

Rory looked at the doctor, waiting for orders.

"That's all, cancel it."

"Cancel."

The message ended and the **TARDIS **seemed to be lifted out of the fog.

"I thought it was supposed to take us somewhere, that it was supposed to show us the future?" Amy asked.

"We didn't ask it to _show _us something." River explained.

"Oh. Maybe we should have."

River looked at the Doctor. "What now Doctor?"

"Doctor?"

"Doctor?"

Doctor. The Doctor was gone, lost somewhere in time and all that was left was the remnants of an old man who had seen too much and knew too little. Doctor who?

**So that was a long chapter. At least to me. Every time someone reviews, the Angels of Need to Start Drinking Decaf Land fly out and sing me a song. Thank you. **

** Love, **

** Lost**


	6. Chapter 6

**First I'd like to thank everyone for their amazing reviews but my many thanks go to intrepidfish for her amazing review. Also, thank you The-Darkness-Befalls for all your help. (Gives both a cookie). **

**Enjoy! **

**Chapter Six: the Sacrifice**

Rose was alone in her office, sitting at her desk with the Diviner in front of her. She knew better than to talk to River when she had seen the Doctor, but she wish she would have found some way; she still had so many unanswered questions. She had left the dining hall five minutes ago, the sound of people cheering after the amazing inspirational speech Rose gave had been too much. They were cheering to their deaths.

"Do you remember when you found me?" Donna said, appearing in the doorway.

Rose smiled and deftly moved the Diviner off of her desk, though she was sure that Donna would have just thought it was one of Noble's toys.

"Yes, you called me a planet." Rose recalled.

"You were nine months pregnant! You were huge!" Donna moved her arms out until she looked like she was trying to hug an invisible barrel. She laughed and sat down across from Rose. "I couldn't believe it when you told me that you were naming her after me."

"You are important to John and me."

Donna smiled and shook her head. "Can you believe it's been almost three years since Martha, Mickey, and I came through?"

Rose shook her head. "You had just gotten divorced, I had just gotten married. Mickey and Martha had just adopted that ugly dog."

"Oh, God that dog, I've always said that that dog was so ugly that only Martha and Mickey could love it." Donna leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the corner of Roses desk. "I mean, just look at that face, it looks like someone hit it with a frying pan!"

Rose laughed. Donna laughed. They laughed until they were crying.

Rose got serious. "I have no idea what I'm doing Donna."

"Yes you do, the Doctor taught you well."

"I'm making speeches Donna, that's all. I'm making no progress."

"That's not true, that plan you came up with in there was brilliant." Donna looked down at her hands in her lap. "He really isn't coming?"

Rose nodded.

"I feel like I should feel betrayed, but I still can't quite remember him." Donna whispered. "I know he was my best friend, but at the same time I'm thinking: no John is my best mate."

Rose thought about Donna's words. Betrayed.

_"When the time comes when you feel you have been betrayed by the Doctor, you will ask this a question: What would happen if the Doctor had come to help us?"_

_ "The Doctor would never betray me." Rose said instantly._

_ "You're right."_

_ "Then why?"_

Then why?

"Have you called him since you've been back?"

Rose twisted her wedding ring. "No, but I'm sure he knows by now."

"And he's probably fighting hell and heaven to get to you."

Rose shook her head. "He couldn't. Torchwood II will have been put under lock down by now. No way out, not without a **TARDIS**."

Donna nodded. "I thought about calling my mum, she's all alone without my grandad there."

Rose looked down at the Diviner, which was peaking out of the bag with the hand bubbling away next to it. "Do you think we'll ever get tired of saying we're protecting them and admit that we're just protecting ourselves?"

"No."

"Yea, me neither."

Both the women remained silent for a few minutes, listening to the ship as alarms went off and people shouted orders at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking right then, but they wouldn't say it out loud.

What would the Doctor do?

Donna's mobile rang, making them jump in surprise.

"This is Donna,"

Rose watched as Donna's face changed from her playful friend to a professional problem solver.

"Yea, got it, on my way." She hung up. "That was Mickey; he said that he needs me down there pronto."

"Does he want me to come?"

"No, just me, something about needing me to bypass the security system and I'm the fastest typer."

Rose laughed. "The temp from Chiswick shows her face once again."

As opened the door she punched the air. "A 100 words a minute!"

Rose laughed at the pride in Donna's voice but as soon as Donna had closed her door behind her, she had the Diviner on her desk again and was taking deep breaths.

_"When the time comes when you feel you have been betrayed by the Doctor, you will ask this a question: What would happen if the Doctor had come to help us?"_

_ "The Doctor would never betray me." Rose said instantly._

_ "You're right."_

_ "Then why?"_

Well, now she was about to find out.

Donna felt like she couldn't breathe. They were all going to die no matter what Rose said. No matter what Mickey or Martha or even herself said. They weren't going to get off this bloody ship. At least not all of them, River had made that clear.

Donna turned into a dark, empty corridor and fell back against the wall. And she cried. She cried because her best friend was going to die today. Donna didn't know why but she had this feeling, almost like déjà vu, that Rose was going to die on Christmas Eve. Rose was going to die and Donna knew she was going to have to tell John and Noble. Little Noble…

Donna knew too much. Since Donna had begun to remember her life with the Doctor, she had gotten…premonitions. Little tidbits of the future, sometimes of the past. Two months ago Donna had seen Rose as she said her last words. Donna wanted to tell her, but she knew better. She seemed to recall a woman once saying something about spoilers.

After Donna had calmed herself down a bit she met Mickey and Martha in the control room.

"Are you sure she didn't follow you?" Martha asked, looking out the door before closing it.

"Yes." Donna sat down in one of the abandoned pilot chairs and looked out the front window into the vast black sky. "We're just floating in space right now, aren't we?"

"Not too much, mostly we are hovering in the same spot." Mickey said sitting next to his wife.

"Space never does stop moving does it?"

"We need a plan."

"It's rushing all around us right now isn't?"

"I'm thinking we should just go ahead and tell her."

"Do you think it will stop when we all die?"

"Stop it Donna." Martha said, tired of the attitude. "What's wrong with you? You always can find the bright side to everything, even when you're telling us what's wrong with it."

Martha and Mickey watched Donna's face as she faced the stars. She seemed to be having a battle with herself. They all were. They needed to find a way to get Rose on one of the escape pods. Donna had told them as soon as Rose got back on board what she had seen coming in the future.

"We should just tell her." Mickey finally said.

"We can't." Martha said.

"We should but we can't." Donna confirmed.

"So you're still seeing it? Rose's…Rose's last message?" Mickey held Martha's hand in his own and she gave it a little squeeze.

Donna just nodded.

"We have to." Martha said, finally agreeing with Mickey. "For John and Noble. The night before we left we all promised, even Rose, that we'd be returning no matter what."

Donna finally looked at her friends. "We have to."

Rose didn't want to touch the Diviner. It hadn't bothered her before, touching it, but now, now knowing that if (when) she touched it, then everything would change. So it sat on her desk, it's once shiny surface, dull and scratched from being hid away like the curse it was.

Rose grabbed the black bag from underneath her desk; she had to stop looking at the Diviner, the Doctor had once told her that staring at things for too long was just like touching it.

The Doctor's hand bubbled away in the bag. When she learned that Jack had stored a genetic clone of the same hand in the archives and that it could sense when the Doctor was near she thought that it was too good to be true. And in those weeks on her original Earth, all alone, out of her time stream, she thought that maybe it didn't work. But finally it did work and…well…that hadn't really turned out too well.

All the same it had been a pain in the butt "borrowing" it from the archives. It really shouldn't exist. It was a paradox, the hand. Without it (or a version of it) she wouldn't have her husband and her little girl.

John and Noble.

Rose reached into the black bag and found the picture of her and her family. The picture was a bit beat up now. Mostly from being crushed by a hand in a jar in an old gym bag, but Rose had also slept with it most nights-when she could sleep-and she always ended up gripping it tightly.

Rose could feel the tears coming but she held back. If she started now, she would never stop. She closed her eyes and folded up the picture, image down, and stuffed it in the inner pocket of her suit jacket.

Rose moved the hand off the desk and placed the Diviner in front of her. It was time.

"_You tap right here. It should light up, make some noise, and then you ask your question when the time comes…"_

Rose closed her eyes and tapped the spot River had shown her three and a half years ago.

Nothing happened. No noise, no light, just silence.

It didn't work. The bloody thing didn't work. Rose was furious, so furious that her tears had clouded her vision.

"Why the hell won't you work?" Rose shook the device.

"It is working, you should read the manual."

Rose froze. She had finally gone mad. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be…but she would recognize that voice anywhere.

Rose looked up and saw her husband, standing in the middle of the room.

"So we are agreed: We make sure _all _of us are on that last pod, no matter what?" Mickey looked at the two women.

They nodded.

"J-John?" Rose whispered. "John, what are you doing here?"

"I am not John. I am the interface of the Model 4 Diviner. I am designed to look like the person you trust the most."

Rose didn't know what to say to that. "River told me there was a flash of light and noise, why didn't that happen?"

Diviner John thought. "When River Song encountered me I had been hooked into a **TARDIS **which provided a large energy boost. If you look around you will` see that your surroundings have dulled or become foggy."

Rose wiped her eyes. It hadn't just been the tears that had clouded her vision.

"What is your question Rose Tyler?"

Rose opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What was her question? She wanted to know if she was going to die. She knew that everyone else would survive. She wanted to know why the Doctor had said all those things to her. She wanted to know what Noble would be when she grew up. She had so many questions, but she wasn't sure if there was a limit. She needed to ask the question she was told to ask, and_ then_ maybe she could ask more.

"W-what would happen if the Doctor had come to help us?"

"I cannot tell you that Rose Tyler."

Rose felt her heart break.

"I have to show you."

"What—"

The room around them faded away into black, but before Rose could truly register what was happening. There was a white flash and she found herself on the deck of a crowed control room

People were rushing about in lab coats, clip boards handy and ready to give bad news. The pilots were messing with buttons and speaking in code that Rose had never really understood, but she knew it was bad.

"Donna!"

Rose turned and saw Mickey approach Donna. He handed her a clip board, his face grim. Donna's face fell as she read the information.

"What do we do?" she whispered.

Mickey shook his head. "We need Rose to return with the Doctor."

Rose stepped forward. "But he's not coming, I'm sorry."

No one looked at her. They couldn't see her, none of them.

"I have to go tell Martha about this new information; she's in the medic sector."

Donna nodded and Mickey left.

And then the room was filled with a heart breaking sound: the sound of the **TARDIS**.

Donna's head whipped around in surprise. Papers scattered around the room as an unnatural wind swept through. Workers covered their faces and held onto their caps as a blue police box appeared in the middle of the room.

There were surprised gasps throughout the room. And then the doors opened.

"I told you I could fly it." Rose recognized her own voice, and then sure enough she stepped out, followed by a laughing Doctor, then a gasping Amy and Rory, and a very nervous looking River Song.

"I only doubted you because I thought that you would be awful at it. But really it was much worse than I—" the Doctor was cut off as Donna Noble wrapped her arms around him, forcing the breath out of him.

"It's you, oh my God, it's really you!" Donna cried. The Doctor hugged her in return and patted her back with his hand.

"You didn't think I would just leave you, did you?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor!" Mickey and Martha burst into the room. Suddenly Donna, Martha, Rose, and even Mickey were all hugging the Doctor.

"The Children of Time, together at last, well, most of us." Mickey said, smiling at his girls.

The Doctor introduced Amy, Rory, and River to them and eventually the still shocked crowd of people who were standing still. Those who could look inside the **TARDIS**'s opened doors mouth's hanging open.

Rose heard Lt. Byrd whisper to her neighbor. "It's bigger on the inside, it really is!"

"Captain Smith?" one of the pilots raised his hand.

"Yes?" Mickey, Martha, and Rose all said simultaneously.

"Um…Sir?"

Mickey stepped forward to speak to the hesitant man. "What is it Lt. West?"

"They've increased their speed." West pointed to a line on the monitor.

"What does that mean?"

It was Amy who asked it. The Doctor said nothing as he looked at the monitor intently.

"They could be here in less than ten minutes at the speed they're going." Mickey looked blown away. "Why have they done that?"

River looked at the screen. "Do you know what they are?"

"No." the other Rose answered. "Just that they have weapons we've never encountered before. And we've never received any other form of communication other than the threatening messages I told you about. We've never even seen what they look like."

"Maybe that's good, I mean, they could really be like three feet tall. Like a Sontaron." Amy pointed out.

"Not really the best example, Amy. Besides we've faced Sontaron's before, they wouldn't come back." Martha put in.

The Doctor hadn't spoken, and Rose knew what that meant: something bad. Something really bad.

Other Rose had noticed this too.

"It's bad, isn't it?" She whispered to the Doctor.

"Get everyone off this ship."

"What?"

The Doctor snapped up. "I know what those things are and the reason they have increased speed is because they sensed the **TARDIS **as soon as it appeared in this universe." He looked at Rose. "Get everyone off. Now."

Rose nodded and turned to look at everyone. "You heard him. Sound the alarm and get to the escape pods."

As people began to pile out an alarm sounded in the distance, Donna grabbed Rose's shoulder and whispered. "There aren't enough pods for everyone."

"But they still have a chance."

"No they don't, they're all going to die."

All of the Doctor's companions heard this and turned to look at him for an explaination. "Those things are called Shadows."

"What are Shadows?" Amy whispered.

"Oh, my, God." River whispered. "I thought they were just a myth."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, they are very, very much real. And if they have decided that they want Earth, then they're going to get it."

"But you can stop them. You can stop anything." Martha whispered, clutching her husband's arm.

"Not these things. Shadows are the one thing Time Lords feared. Before the Time War, they slaughtered whole galaxies in a matter of minutes. There was no way to defeat them. We have to go before they get here."

"No." Other Rose said. "I can't leave, I can't abandon my crew."

"They're more or less already dead, Rose!" the Doctor yelled.

"You said whole galaxies?" Rose said. "What about Torchwood II and all the other places our families are being kept safe.

"We can get to Torchwood II before they do if we leave now. We can get your families and get you out of here."

"Not without our crew!" Mickey yelled. "There are over 150 people on this ship."

"All dead." He said bluntly.

"No, you can't just say that!" Martha yelled.

"I'm sorry but it's true! You know why they haven't showed you showed you what they look like? Hmm? It's because Shadows are the things of nightmares. They don't want you to see what they look like until they are killing you. Slowly."

No one said anything.

"We have to leave. Now."

Rory was the first to move, then Amy, and River. They all walked back into the **TARDIS**, their eyes cast down, unable to look at the lone crew of the doomed Torchwood I.

"Please, don't make this hard." The Doctor whispered.

"Good-bye Doctor." Martha said. "Thank you."

The Doctor didn't move. "This is mad. You have to come with me."

"This is your fault!" Mickey suddenly yelled. "If you hadn't come, we would have had a chance. But your damn space ship is what attracted them!"

"That's not fair, Mickey." Other Rose said. "We brought him here."

"No _you _brought him here." Mickey motioned at Rose. "I told you that we should do this on our own."

"You're right, but we have to stop arguing." Other Rose said slowly.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a bloody child!"

"Mickey..."

"Martha maybe we should just let them talk it out…"

"I'm your friend, not your personal soldier!"

"I never said that!"

As Rose watched her friends and her other self explode on one another, she heard a beeping. It was a steady beeping. One of the monitors was flashing just a bit. Rose walked closer to it, trying not to get hit by one of Donna's arms as she pointed at Mickey and told him to do something anatomically incorrect with himself. She wasn't sure if she could be touched or touch anything, but she wasn't going to take chances with being punched by an angry ginger.

As she got to the distressed monitor and looked down, she felt fear well up inside her.

"Mickey," she called over her shoulder. "Mickey what does this mean?"

But of course, no one could hear her. They were still all yelling at each other and the Doctor was actually trying to push them all into the **TARDIS**, which made them all the angrier.

"Does anyone else hear that infernal beeping?" Donna yelled over the chaos.

Everyone froze. Mickey finally looked over at the beeping monitor. He threw a glare at the Doctor and muttered "Now, what…" as he looked down at it.

"We have to go, get in the **TARDIS**." He said and pushed his wife towards it.

Other Rose looked down at the screen. She froze as she saw what had made Mickey change his mind so fasat. "They're right on top of us."

"Let's go!" the Doctor shouted.

Rose followed all of them onto the **TARDIS**. The Ponds and River were sitting on the stairs, quietly. When the Doctor and the rest of them piled in, they stood awkwardly.

"We have to get to Torchwood II now and then get out of this universe." The Doctor was firing up the controls, before Mickey had even shut the doors. "Then we have to close the Void somehow."

"Yea, 'cause none of that is impossible." Mickey snorted and pulled his wife close to him.

The Doctor said nothing as he flipped the switches. The **TARDIS **began to shake and make an awful racket that was new to both Roses.

"It didn't make that noise the last time we took off." Other Rose said.

"That's because, we haven't taken off yet." The Doctor had completely stopped moving, Rose was sure he wasn't even breathing.

"Then what is that?" Donna asked.

"The Shadows have put a Time Lock around Torchwood I, nothing can get out."

"But this is the **TARDIS**, it can do anything." Amy said looking down at the controls. "One of these has to override a Time Lock!"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nothing can override a Time Lock, Amy."

Rose felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. In the last three hours, there had been so many tears cried, so many moments of silence, but the silence that filled the room now, seemed to be suffocating her.

Even as Martha and Donna cried and held on to each other, they made no noise. Even the sweet kisses that Amy and Rory were exchanging were as silent as the grave. River walked over to the Doctor and put her arms around him. He held her and kissed the top of her head.

The two Roses were left alone in the corner. The Doctor looked over at the Other Rose over River's head; tears were coming out of his eyes. He mouthed _I'm sorry Rose_.

The **TARDIS **began to shake again. This time the noise hurt Rose's ears. A cool breeze filled the room and it slowly became dark until she could see nothing, but Rose could feel things moving around her.

And then Martha screamed. Everyone was screaming. There was slurping noises as if a group of people were drinking soup and what sounded like the snapping of branches.

Rose felt sick. It was dark and she could only imagine what was happening.

"Stop, make it stop, make it stop!" she screamed as she closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears. "Make this stop!"

A light flashed behind her eyes and Rose slowly opened them. She was back in her office, sitting at her desk, the Diviner who looked like her husband stood in the same spot with a blank look on his face. She had never even left her spot.

"How do you defeat Shadows?" Rose stood up. "How do you get out alive?"

"Both those questions have been asked before and I cannot give you the answer if they have been asked before."

"What was the answer to the first one?" she moved around her desk and faced the Diviner. "Can you to tell me that, since I just asked the answer not the question?"

The Diviner shook his head. "No."

"Why the hell not? hat the use are you then?"

The Diviner blinked. "I can tell you many things Rose Tyler, but I cannot tell you what will happen tonight."

Maybe it was just her imagination but the Diviner sounded different now, more like her John than a robot.

"When do I die?" she whispered.

"That question has been asked before."

"By who?"

"A man named Rory Williams."

"Rory? How-Why?"

The Diviner nodded. "He relayed messages for a Time Lord known as the Doctor."

"What about my family, will they really be okay?"

"Yes."

Rose didn't want to ask anything else. She didn't want to know anymore. "You can go now, I have no other questions."

The Diviner blinked and room cleared up as he disappeared.

Rose stood alone in the middle of the room. After a few minutes she took out her mobile and dialed Donna's number.

"Where are you, are Mickey and Martha with you?" she asked. "Why are you there? Never mind, all of you stay where you are, I am on my way. I know what we're fighting. No, that's not good news."

Rose ended the call and left the room without turning the lights out.

**Oh that was a very, very long chapter. Again, at least for me. I have no idea what I want the Shadow's to look like. I need your help, if you have any ideas you can leave them WHEN you review (hint hint) or you can send me a private message. I really hope you are still enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. Keep R&R-ing. Thanks so much everyone. I'm going to take a nap now.**

**Love, **

** Lost**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is just a fun chapter to keep you reading, plus I promised someone a Jack cameo. I just started watching Torchwood, so I have no idea where this is or possibly could be in that series. Thanks for all you support.**

**Chapter Seven: Where the Wild Things Are**

When Captain Jack Harkness heard his phone ring, he knew immediately that it was going to be bad news. And it had been.

It was the Doctor. Well, he went by John now but Jack still thought of him as the Doctor. It was hard not to.

"Get over here now." John said and hung up.

As Jack quickly got dressed he thought about how upset John had sounded. He was angry, that was clear, but beneath the initial anger, there was fear.

Just eleven minutes after the phone call, 7:41, Jack knocked on the door where John, Jackie, Pete, Tony, and Noble were all living since Earth's invasion.

Pete opened it, his face grim. When Jack first walked in, the first thing he saw was that everything that could be broken in the room was broken. The television looked like someone had stepped through it and was smoking slightly. There were broken dishes everywhere, a few cracked picture frames, and a smashed mobile.

And Jackie Tyler was crying as she held on to her young son who looked scared. Noble sat next to her grandmother, holding a little dolly. She didn't look scared, she looked thoughtful. Jack had always been a little scared of how alike Noble and her father were. They always had the same expression of knowing all there is to know on their faces and on a three year old with Rose's eyes, that was saying something.

"What's happened?" Jack finally asked after waiting for someone to speak.

"Torchwood I has launched all of its escape pods."

Jack turned and faced the hard voice of John Smith. He was standing off to the side of the room. He looked tired. Jack knew he hadn't been sleeping all that well, but looking at him now he wondered if he had been sleeping at _all_.

"Why?" Jack asked, knowing the answer.

"Apparently we've lost all hope." Pete answered.

John didn't know how to respond to that. He'd lost hope before and right now he didn't need to go to that dark place. "When do Rose and the others get here?"

"Most of the pods have already arrived."

"So they are already here?"

John shook his head curtly. "According to various sources, Rose and the others stayed back with 30 or so others."

"They're going to fight?"

"Rose gave everyone the option of going home."

"Only 30 stayed." Pete looked disgusted. "Only 30 stayed to fight an invasion."

"Then why aren't we preparing to go to them?"

"Because Torchwood II is under lock down: No one gets out, only the…survivors of Torchwood I are being allowed in."

Jackie let out a bit of a squeak on the couch as she fought back the tears. Pete sat down next to his distressed wife and son.

Noble watched this with a curious expression.

"Daddy, where is mummy?" she asked in her little wise voice.

John opened his mouth but said nothing. Jack had only seen this reaction on the Doctor's face once, when the Children of Time had all been with him, threatening to blow up the planet and the Dalek ship. He had looked hopeless, yet proud.

"Daddy?" Noble walked over to her father, her little doll dragging behind her. John picked his daughter up and held her to him.

"She's saving the world, just like always." He said burying his head on her shoulder.

Noble's response was to pat her father's head and tell him that everything would be all right.

"What happened to Rose's back up plan, to find the Doctor?"

"I don't know. We've told you all we know."

Pete shook his head. "They won't tell us anything else, not even me."

Now that was something that struck a chord with Jack. If the Government wasn't even telling it's President anything then there was something to be concerned about.

"I bet you're wishing you had stayed on Original Earth now Jack." The Doctor laughed a bit, his eyes red as she hugged his daughter.

"I could really use a drink." He said in response.

"I broke all the glasses; you'll have to drink from the bottle." Jackie said, speaking for the first time since he entered the room.

To be honest, Jack had figured that it had been John who had done the damage. Rose had expressed to him her worries that if anything ever happened to her or Noble he would become the Doctor born in battle again, instead of his carefree, almost Donna like persona now.

"That's works just fine." Jack said as Pete pulled a crystal decanter (possibly the only glass object in the room that was not broken) out of a drawer in the half destroyed coffee table.

Jack took a swig and the brandy burned his dry throat.

"What do we do now?" it was Noble who had spoken. Jack took another nervous mouthful of the liquid. It was almost eerie how she spoke like she was twenty years older.

John shifted his daughter on his hip and looked at her and smiled, but Jack could see the smile didn't reach his eyes. "_You _are going to go to bed, while we go and get mummy, Auntie Donna, and your Uncle Mickey and Aunt Martha." He looked at Jackie. "Why don't you take the children to their room and read to them?"

Jackie nodded and came over and got her grandchild quietly.

"How exactly are we going to get the rest of our little family?" Jack took another swig. Pete took the bottle from him and took a drink as well.

"I have absolutely no bloody clue."

Jack nodded and just to say something, he said "Do you ever worry about how smart your daughter is?"

To his surprise, the Doctor nodded. "It scares the hell out of Rose and me. Sometimes she takes books from us when we are reading to her and tells us that they are not "reliable information". The other day she made me read out of one of Rose's physics books."

John was laughing now. This made Jack smile and he offered John the bottle. And again, surprising him, he took it and took a great gulp from it.

He made a face afterwards of course. "You could power a rocket with this."

All the same, he took another drink and handed it to Pete, who looked at the diminished bottle sadly.

"Are we giving up?" Pete asked.

"No." John and Jack both snapped.

"Then what _are _we doing?"

"We are waiting." John said.

"For?"

"A message from Donna." Jack clarified.

Donna had told John about her "déjà vu" feelings and John had told Jack. A few nights ago, Donna had messaged John about something she had been seeing lately, but wasn't completely clear yet, like it was foggy. But it was about Rose, Donna had made that clear.

After John had explained this to Pete, Pete asked what makes them think that Donna's "vision" would be any clearer.

"When something very shocking or out of the ordinary happens, it triggers different parts of your body." The Doctor said. "Mostly your mind and you heart. Donna's heart and mind are connected more than a normal human's because of the Time Lord energy running through her. So she has more visions about people and places she cares about than of people and places she has no true connection with."

"So you think that the impending, for the lack of a better phrase, death of all the people she cares about is going to give her vision clarity?"

"Basically, yes."

"And tell us how we are supposed to save Rose and the others." Jack added.

"What makes you think that?"

John laughed. "Well, they're not going to die."

"That makes no sense."

"Think about it: If they die, the universe ends, and since that's not going to happen, they are not going to die." John explained as if this was obvious.

Before, this had made sense to Jake, but now listening to John say it out loud he realized how much they had deluded themselves. Pete could see it too, but said nothing. Jack felt ridiculous; he had put so much faith in Donna's premonitions that he hadn't even considered what could _really _happen.

Jack took another drink of the brandy as they stood there in an almost awkward silence.

Suddenly, Noble's voice sounded at the end of the hall.

"That is not a logical opinion gram!" she sounded very exasperated, again, not normal for a three year old Jack thought.

"But it says right here that the cow said she had no more milk!" Jackie shot back, arguing with the two foot tall Einstein.

"_Cows cannot talk_!" Noble shouted back.

"I told you so." John headed toward the room. "Noble, it is a children's story, just let it be!"

As soon as John was out of earshot, Pete turned on Jack. "Have you lost your damned mind?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, care to help me find it?"

Pete took the almost empty decanter from Jack. "We have to tell him that it's not going to work."

"And what will that accomplish?" Jack countered. "You want to tell the dangerous and easily angered Time Lord that the women he loves and all his friends are going to die—if they aren't already dead, that is. Please be my guest, but if he becomes cross and kills you, don't come crying to me."

Pete said nothing.

"I realize that our plan is completely mad, I do, but do not tell him that. Let him come to grip with it on his own terms."

"Do you really think she's going to die?"

Now Jack was silent. Pete Tyler had never really shown any fatherly feelings towards his "almost" daughter. He hadn't even walked her down the aisle when she married John. But looking at him now, you would never even think that this was the same man who had told Noble, only yesterday, that it was best not to call him grandpa.

Before Jack could begin of how to respond John came back out smiling.

"I gave her the periodic table picture book you gave her for her third birthday, Pete." He clapped his hands together. "She just loves it by the way; though she still can't pronounce "periodic" without sounding it out."

Jack thought that that was funny. The child could already recite the times table up to 100 and spell Neptunium but couldn't say periodic without breaking it down.

Jack sat down on the couch and waited, this the thought that was keeping him sane.

Almost 45 minutes later the chorus of "Super Freak" sounded from his pocket. This was Donna's ringtone.

He put it on speaker.

"You there?" he asked.

"Yea, so's Mickey and Martha." The connection wasn't good, but it'd have to do. "I—"

"Is Rose safe?" John asked before Donna could finish.

"For now."

Pete and Jack exchanged a look as John moved closer to the phone. "What does that mean?"

"John, I…I…" Donna's voice broke.

"Donna?" the John's tone was hard.

"I saw what's going to happen, it became clear as soon as Rose got back from searching for the Doctor."

"She found him?" Jack asked before John could respond.

"She did."

"So he's there?" Pete looked a little relieved.

"No. He wouldn't come."

Even John was silent.

After a moment Jack heard Martha's voice. "Did we lose you?"

"Our connection is bad; it sounded as if you said you the Doctor wasn't coming." Pete said, but even he sounded like he didn't believe it.

"Rose said that she found him but he wasn't interested in helping. She came back alone."

"But…" John looked more confused than his two companions. But he also looked hurt.

"What about your vision?" Jack asked, trying to move the conversation along.

"I saw Rose send a message."

"That's all?"

"Yes."

"Do you know who too?"

"No, I couldn't understand her that well, but she said something about River Song."

The Meta-Crisis Doctor looked up at this. "Did you say River Song?"

"I told you the name was familiar." Donna said this to her friends on her end, but to John she said "Where have I heard that name before?"

"You and the Other Doctor met her at the Library. She knew him. She knew him very well, but he didn't know her."

"The frizzy archeologist?" Donna asked, sounding almost amused.

"Yes." John made a face. "The _archeologist_."

"John, there's something else." Donna's voice was regretful.

"What?"

"She was hurt and crying and I think she was…I think she was saying good-bye."

John said nothing.

Mickey's voice was quiet but determination dripped from his next words. "But we're not going to let it happen, I promise you Doctor, we're going to get her back to you and Noble."

"How are you going to do that? All the escape pods have been registered as gone?" Pete asked.

"There is an unregistered pod used for quick escapes." Mickey said. He sounded regretful. "We didn't tell Rose about it because we knew she would have sent us on it ages ago."

"You bring my wife home, but you promise me that you three will be on there as well." John said looking at the phone intently, as if he was seeing the three on the other side of the call.

There was a moment of muffled discussion and then Jack heard Mickey said. "So we are agreed: We make sure _all _of us are on that last pod, no matter what?"

"Then we need to make a plan." Pete said.

The plan was simple and direct, if not a little too easy Jack thought. He couldn't be the only one who thought Rose would never fall for it. But he said nothing to the others.

Rose had called Donna and they ended the conversation so Donna could take the call without drawing suspicion and promising to call as soon as she could.

Pete was called away by his security guard for a well past due debriefing, leaving Jack and John alone except for the now sleeping Noble who had snuck out and fallen asleep in her father's arms, the periodic table book off to the side.

"What will you do if Rose doesn't make it back?" Jack finally dared to ask, breaking the silence for the first time since Pete had left.

John looked around the shattered room, slowly stroking Noble's soft blonde, head. "I know everyone has been worried that I'll go mad if I lose Rose. I can see it on their faces every time Rose says she has to go on another mission, without me."

Jack watched the sad man's handsome face as he spoke.

"They all think that I'll become nuclear and destroy everything." John looked over at Jack. "I'm not the man I was when the Other Doctor left me on that beach. I'm changed. I've been changed since I first told Rose I loved her and she said it back. I changed again when we got married. When my daughter was born and when I found my first gray hair. I'm changing every day into a different man."

But if Rose doesn't come back…I'm terrified that all that change won't be enough." John looked down at his daughter. "Not even for Noble."

Jack thought about this. "Then she better make it back."

John said nothing but finished off the brandy.

"Why do you think the Other Doctor didn't help?"

John looked at Jack with his old, old eyes, his face shadowed with stubble from not shaving the past few days.

"Whatever it was must have been something incredibly important and powerful."

"Why do you say that?"

John did not respond and Jack did not question him any further. They just sat in silence, listening to Noble breathing softly as she dreamed.

**So I hope that no one is getting bored with the plot. If you can find a plot. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope that you are still enjoying this as much as I am. I shall have the next chapter up as soon as I finish it. Any questions or comments, please leave them, and I ****will**** get back to you.**

**Love, **

**Lost**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry it has taken me so long to update. What can I say, it was the holidays. Anyways so here is the latest chapter, thank you for all your patience. Also, I edited the other chapters, I didn't really change much; a sentence or two here, a hint or clue there…anyways, you don't have to read through all of it again. I didn't really do much of anything. How 'bout that Christmas episode, huh?**

**Chapter Eight: the Enemy **

"Shadows? What _hell _are Shadows?" Mickey asked.

"No, better question, how do you know this all of the sudden?" Martha said looking at Rose suspiciously.

"I can't tell you."

"Does it have to do with the Doctor?" Donna asked hopefully.

"Yes and no. Mostly it has to do with a woman named River Song."

Martha, Mickey, and Donna all froze.

"Who?" Donna asked trying to sound surprised and curious at the same time.

"A woman I met a while back."

"Is that all you're going to tell us?" Mickey asked. "That shadows are attacking us. Like the boogeyman?"

"Nothing like the boogeyman, and I've told you all I know."

Alright so that was a lie. But she couldn't tell them what the Diviner had shown her. She wished she'd never been seen it herself. Maybe ignorance was bliss.

"So you're saying we can't fight this at all?" Martha brought them back to the point. "That we need to just give up and run?"

Rose said nothing but her expression was all the others needed.

And then a monitor began to beep. Rose looked up and saw that it was the same monitor as in the Diviner's Universe. She stepped back afraid of what it was going to say.

Mickey read it and his face hardened. "They're almost here."

"Then it's too late."

She'd really done it; she'd sentenced her friends, her family and everyone else aboard the ship to their death. She never had these kinds of troubles when she was shop girl in Cardiff.

"There is another escape pod." Mickey said suddenly.

"What!" Rose jumped. "But I saw the charts, all of the pods-"

"I know: this pod is unregistered."

"How many can it fit?"

"Maybe 15, but that's if there are people sitting on each other's laps.

"It'll have to do, let's go."

The four ran through the corridors. Then Rose remembered the Doctor's hand, she couldn't leave it here. Even if it was just a replica, it still could be used as a weapon.

When she told the others she had to go back and get it, Donna offered to go with her, but Rose said she'd be fine and that they better go get as many people as they could on the pod.

They had looked very anxious when she glanced back at them, but they didn't argue with her anymore.

When Rose got to her office, the first thing she noticed was how quiet it was. It was the kind of quiet that made her feel like she was the only person on the ship—maybe in the universe. Under normal circumstances it would have been relaxing but now it was just eerie and made the hair on the back of her neck raise.

Rose grabbed the bag containing the Doctor's hand and the Diviner but almost dropped it with a scream when she turned around and saw the Diviner John standing in the middle of the room again.

"I didn't summon you, or whatever you want to call it, so just leave." Rose tried to get past it, but it blocked her way.

"You have been chosen Rose Tyler." It said.

"Chosen for what?"

Diviner John took a step closer and reached out.

"You have been chosen to see what the future holds." And then it touched her.

Rose jumped back and then fell to the ground, gasping for breath, as the images the Diviner had just shown her played behind her eyelids. "What...what the hell was that?"

"That was the future."

"Yeah, I got that, but why show _that _to _me_?"

"Because we chose you Rose Tyler."

And with that, it was gone again, leaving Rose still gasping for air on the floor with even more questions than before.

"Rose, are you alright?" Martha rushed into the room and help Rose to her feet.

"Yea, I just fell over. What are you doing here?"

Martha gave a sheepish smile. "The buddy system?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's good." Rose knew that there was something up with Martha—with all of them, but right now her mind was too busy trying to figure everything else out to think about what it might be.

Rose got a firm grip on the black bag and followed Martha out quickly. They ran through the empty corridors and rooms, not bothering to talk. Rose knew it was silly, but she was glad that she, Martha, and Donna had all started wearing sensible shoes after all her complaining.

"Mickey?" Rose heard Martha say as she rounded the corner a few meters in front of her. "Mickey, we were supposed to meet—what's wrong?"

Rose sped up, not liking the way Martha's voice sounded. When she met up with the other young woman and looked around the corner, she saw that an emotionless faced Mickey was holding a sobbing Donna.

"W-w-w-we were t-too late." Donna sobbed.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked running up to them. Mickey said nothing but pointed towards the door that was supposed to take them to safety.

Martha and Rose looked at each other, their faces full of worry. Martha typed in her security code and the door slid open with a hiss of air.

The smell of blood hit them first; it was sweet and spicy at the same time and filled their lungs, Martha knew what it was before she or Rose even stepped into the room. Working for U.N.I.T., Martha had seen a lot of things she'd never forget: Burn victims of war, people who had been shot so many times that they resembled Swiss cheese more than a human being, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

The room was full dead bodies. Well, what used to be bodies; now it was just the remnants of flesh, bones and entrails. But hardly any blood, even if the air seemed to be full of it. All of the remains looked like they had been sucked dry of all their blood, even the skin looked almost transparent. The bones were as white as fresh snow, as perfect as a university cadaver's.

Martha heard Rose throw up behind her. To steady herself, Martha placed a hand on the door frame. It was sticky. Martha looked to see what it was. It was a dried bloody hand print. A human handprint.

"What happened, why didn't they call for help?" Donna sobbed as Martha stared at the hand print.

Rose forced herself to look at the information box on the security scanner.

"It says that all power in the room was disabled between 8:40 and eight…"Rose's voice trailed off.

"What?"

Rose took a deep, ragged breath. "Between 8:40 and 8:44. The last time this door was opened was 8:59; when we opened it. Before it was 8:57, when Mickey and Donna opened it, and before that, the door to the companionway—the side entrance away from where we are going— in the room was opened at 8:50."

"Four minutes?" Donna could hardly breathe. Her face was bright and shiny with tears. "They did all _that _in four minutes? How?"

Rose shook her head, trying not to think about it. "But they had to cut the power, why?"

"To get in?"

"To make sure no one could call for help?"

"Why?"

Donna shook her head her eyes bright. "Why what? Does there have to be a reason? They are evil. And sick. And evil. And…and..."

Donna was losing it again and Martha put an encouraging arm around her, even though she herself looked close to tears.

"It's something you said earlier Donna, where would the fun be in killing us quickly when they could do it in person?"

"Are we being hunted?"

"No."

Everyone turned and looked at the door, where Lt. Byrd stood, shaking and splattered in blood.

Rose ran to the shaking girl and put her arms around her.

"The room went dark and then people were screaming and I ran and I hid and they, they didn't find me." the girls voice was cold. "It went on for hours."

"They were only in there for four minutes…"

"It was hours."

No one argued with her.

"There's something else, it was my dad."

"What?"

"My dad, he killed them all. When the lights turned back on I saw him leave. Out this door." Lt. Byrd's voice was emotionless. Her face impassive. She was an empty an abandoned shell, her voice just sand trapped in its cavern.

"Your _dad_? How is that possible?"

"He's evil, I knew that, but I don't understand how he got on the ship." Now her voice broke.

"He's evil?"

"He used to beat me. H-h-he…he's here on the ship." Lt. Byrd fainted and Rose caught her in before her she hit the ground, but she was almost as heavy as Rose and they both fell to the floor. Martha rushed to their side, her doctor instincts kicking in.

"'He's here on the ship?'" Martha looked up at her husband. "Is that possible?"

He shook his head. "I don't understand. Shadows _and _her 'evil' father. Could they be connected?"

"Let's call Jack; I'm sure he's heard of these boogeymen."

Before Rose could disagree, Donna had her phone out and the number dialed.

Rose could hear Jack's concerned voice as he answered. "Donna, what's happening?"

"Do you know what Shadows are?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Rose heard the one voice she wanted to, muffled, but perfect.

"Is Rose there? Is she all right?" John spoke quickly.

"Rose is fine—"

"Can I speak with her?"

Donna looked to Rose who shook her head while looking down at her feet.

"She's not here, she's with Martha. Listen Jack—or John, do you know what Shadows are?" she said the name slowly.

"Shadows? Shadows are old ghost tales. Why?" Jack's voiced went out a bit. "What is it John?"

There was a loud banging noise as if someone had dropped a bowling ball onto a hardwood floor.

"Jack, what was that?" Donna asked her voice filled with concern.

"That was John slamming the front door. I think he's off to yell at the Captain…again."  
>Rose stepped forward and spoke into the phone. "Jack, it's Rose, I'm here. I need you to tell me what Shadows are."<p>

"Like I said: myths. Just old scary stories parents told their children about to make them eat their broccoli and peas. Nothing but boogeymen."

Mickey muttered "I told you so."

"Then why is John so upset?" Martha asked.

"I don't know, probably because his wife is a galaxy away, in danger, and he can't get to her."

"That's beside the point right now," Rose hoped that no one could hear her heart breaking in her voice. "Tell us what you know about Shadows."

Donna heard Jack sigh. When he spoke, he sounded a little bored. "Okay, they apparently are powerful enough to bring down empire without using any weapons. Impossible to beat."

No one said anything about that.

"What do they look like?" Donna asked.

"Well, that's just it: no one knows. None have lived long enough to tell anyone. But it's said that—mind you this is a theory—that they appear to a person as what that person fears most."

"That explains why Lt. Byrd saw her dad when the lights came on, it's good thing they didn't realize she was there." Donna said looking at the small girl on the floor.

Martha sighed. "Great, _more_ Harry Potter."

Everyone looked at Martha and blinked. "Boggarts? You know, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?"

Martha looked at their equally annoyed and confused faces then at the silent phone resting in Donna's hand.

"Wrong crowd." Martha stepped back and let the others talk. She sat down on the floor where Lt. Byrd was slowly waking up.

Jack continued. "Anyways, these guys aren't good news. Why did you think of them?"

"Because that is what we're up against, Jack." Donna said her face grim.

Rose could picture Jack's perfect hair waving as he shook his head. A funny thought went through her head at that moment: she never asked him what product he used to make his hair so shiny and wavy.

Disbelief filled Jack's voice. "But that's not—"

Torchwood I suddenly started to jerk and rock. The lights flickered a few times and the sound of groaning metal filled the ship.

Lt. Byrd shot up. "No, no, no, not again, not the lights again, please no."

Martha tried to comfort the distressed girl.

"What was that?" Jack exclaimed.

"I'm guessing it's the impossible coming to eat us." Donna said as she looked over at Rose.

"Listen Jack, if we—" Rose began but a little, familiar voice spoke on the other line.

"Mummy is that you?" asked Noble.

Rose opened her mouth. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't say good-bye, not like this, not when she knew her voice was full of fear. She couldn't comfort her baby when she couldn't comfort herself.

"You're coming home mummy." It wasn't a question, it was an order. She was getting an order from her two year old.

"Yeah, darling, I am." Rose said, finally, relieved she sounded braver than she felt.

"Rose,—" Jack began but the shipped jerked again, making the almost calmed Lt. Byrd scream and pull herself away from Martha until she was in the corner where she bang her head against the wall repeatedly.

The phone fell from Donna's hand and onto the hard floor where the screen went black. Donna picked it up and tried to turn it on again, but it was too late.

"We have to go and we have to go now." Mickey picked up the crying girl in the corner and threw her over his shoulder. She looked so small, almost childlike compared to Mickey's robust frame.

The security pad on the door began to beep again and Mickey set the girl back down carefully and went to it. He pressed in some information. "How could this possible get any worse?"

His face paled.

"What?" Martha asked, a little impatiently. She could not believe that he just said that, was he trying to get them all killed? "What is it Mickey?"

"They couldn't have…" he pressed some buttons on the screen, double checking—triple checking the data. He stepped back, still looking at the screen. "They've turned off our gravity shield; we are going to crash into Earth."

All the women, except Lt. Byrd, looked at the screen, hoping and praying there was some kind of mistake.

"I told you." Donna whispered. "Space never stops moving, rushing around us."

"Now. We go now, no stopping this time." Mickey said and turned to pick up Lt. Byrd.

Rose shook her head. "We can change its destination. We can crash it into one of the moons we discovered on the dark side of the Lunas."

Mickey shook his head. "We would never have time, look."

A cold electronic voice filled the corridor, giving both Donna and Rose a strange sense of déjà vu. "Fifty-nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds until impact."

"But, if I stay—"

Donna, Martha, Mickey, and even Lt. Byrd yelled "No!"

Donna put her shaking hands on Rose's shoulders. "We are all getting off this ship, right now. Together."

All Rose could do was nod and follow her friends out.

Jack put the silent phone down on the coffee table. Noble looked up at him through her long blonde eye lashes.

He remembered the day the Tyler's had begun to prepare their youth for the worst, telling them what might happen and teaching them how to respond. Tony had ended up shaking in fear by the end of his first lesson and hadn't left his room for almost three days after. But Noble, young, wise Noble had listened intently and asked questions. She was ready.

Jack had always been wary of the youngest Tyler and she him. It was no secret, but he was never mean to her or treated her much differently than everyone else, neither did she he. But something about the girl, as she stood there tall despite her size, had touched him deep inside, somewhere he hadn't thought existed anymore. He loved this little girl, he realized. He loved her like he loved Rose and John and Donna and Martha and Mickey. Well…maybe not Mickey, he was a bit of an pompous ass. They were his family, he had come through the Void for them and their lost cause, and looking at this girl, it reminded him of that. Because looking closer into her eyes, those blue pools of potential greatness, he saw a little scared baby who wanted her mummy.

Jack put his arms around the little girl, who, surprising him, hugged him back with all her little might. She didn't cry though. Jack was sure she wanted to, but she knew she had to be strong for her daddy; if John came back and saw her crying, he might not be able to handle that and his own conflicting "human" emotions.

Jack looked at the little girl's face and smiled. "Why don't you go get that book of elements and a dictionary, I'll teach you how to sound some of them out."

Noble nodded and left the room to find the dictionary. Jack looked back at the phone and said a silent prayer to the universe.

They hurried through the corridors silently, not running, but walking fast enough to be breathing hard. They were afraid if they ran or spoke, it would attract 'dangerous and unwanted attention.' Lt. Byrd, (who told them her name was Noel) had calmed down enough to move on her own and seemed to be itching to run just as much as the rest of them.

They took their time on corners, peering around to make sure nothing was waiting for them. Whenever the lights flickered or the ship jerked they all stopped moving and held their breath so they could listen. For what they weren't sure; Noel had said that the Shadows had made no noise, but had just appeared like…_shadows_ as soon as the lights had gone out. Rose understood this, but said nothing of it.

Rose got up closer to Mickey and whispered. "How close are we?"

"Two more floors." He whispered back.

A floor away, they finally started running. The black bag containing the hand bounce against Rose's back, the Diviner with it, reminding her of what the Diviner John had shown her.

_But why me? _Rose thought as she followed the other's up the stairs. _I'm not going to live another hour, why would he show me._

Rose almost stopped dead. She had finally accepted it. She was going to die tonight. Her loved ones would live. And she would die. At first, to her disgust, she had been angry at this, but now, it felt almost…right. She was content with it. The thought almost made her smile. She was dying for those she loved. Could there be a more worthy cause for death?

"We're here." Mickey said as he opened the door. The room had automatic lights which turned on as soon as they were entered. It was about the size of the room Rose and her family had on Torchwood II. But instead of a comfy little sitting room and kitchen it had a bulky, white and black pod sitting in it. At closer inspection, Rose could see that it was connected to a lift that would take them out of the ship. No one on the outside could know tell it was there unless they were looking for it, Mickey said.

He rushed about, flipping switches and entering security codes. Martha and Donna entered the small vessel and programed it, setting a destination, and all the other requirements. Rose could see that Mickey had overestimated the amounted passengers it could carry. She was a little afraid they would all fit in it as it was.

Noel had begun to pale again. Rose stepped forward and put her arm around her.

"What's wrong?" It was a stupid question. What wasn't?

"I just feel as if this were too easy, you know?"

Rose nodded, a little relieved she wasn't the only one.

"I think they're playing with us, like they wanted us to get this far just so they could do something else."

Rose wasn't sure what compelled her to tell the girl what she told her next, but she was sure it had something to do with how much Noel reminded her of her own self. Rose watched as the girl shook her head as she received her orders.

"Please, I can't do that, don't ask me to do that, Captain." She whispered.

"I need someone to stay and save everyone. I need you to do this for me, Noel, please."

Mickey called from the pod. "Everything alright?"

Rose looked back. "Yeah, she's still a little shocked."

"Okay, well as soon as I get this started up we can go."

Rose led the shaking Noel into the pod. They ducked their heads as they entered the cramped cockpit where Mickey already sat at the cockpit, Martha by his side, as always.

"Okay, so I'll I have to do is pull this and then we have lift—"

And just as Noel had predicted, there was another jerk of the ship and most the power to the pod went out. Mickey banged on the monitors and the controls, yelling and cursing at them.

"What's happened?" Donna asked her face pale.

Mickey's head hung low. "We don't have enough power to lift off."

Rose looked at the monitors and she felt her forehead wrinkle in confusion. "But it says we have enough power to fly?"

Mickey shook his head. "It's two different engines completely. If we can just get into space, we can get out of here, but with no…force to get us out, we have nothing else to go on."

"Is there any way we can get enough force?" Martha asked putting her hand on her husband's shaking arm, her diamond wedding ring glinted from the various lights on the ceiling.

Mickey nodded.

"Then why aren't we doing it?" Donna asked her voice high with annoyance and fear.

"I knew that this had been too easy. And if I was them, this is what I would have done." Mickey said to himself and pointed toward a small red box hanging near the door to the room outside of the pod. "If someone presses the red button in that box, it will send a charge through the ship that should send us into space."

"Okay, that's not so—"

"After the charge is sent, the ship will launch immediately. There would be no time for the person to get back on the ship." He sounded angry and sad. Two emotions that were both draining his features of all traces of relief. Everyone weighed his words. One of them would have to stay behind to save the others.

Rose looked at Noel and mouthed one word: _please_.

Noel nodded curtly and stood up, in front of the others.

"I volunteer." She choked out. "I'll stay behind."

Martha shook her head. "No, we will figure out another way."

The girl shook her head. Despite the fear in her voice, she looked stronger than ever as she watched the passengers. "There is no time to figure out another way. I will stay."

"No—"

There was a hiss of air as the entrance to the vessel closed tightly. Everyone looked at it and then at the spot where Rose had been sitting. All that remained was a black bag, buckled down tightly, a slight bubbling coming from its depths.

Noel whispered "I'm so sorry."

Everyone looked out into the room. Rose was already standing at the box. Her voice came on the com.

"I'm sorry guys, but it's the only way." Her voice far away.

"You used Noel to distract us." Mickey stated.

"I'm sorry." Rose repeated. "You say it's the red button?"

They watched as she opened the box on the wall. There was a large bed button in the middle of it.

"There's something I didn't mention Rose: the blast could kill who's ever out there." Mickey whispered.

Rose said nothing, but they could see her lips moving silently out the large front window of the pod.

"I'll open the door first, press the button, then close the door before the blast hits me."

"That…might work. But those doors aren't that strong Rose, it may wane the blast a bit, but it could still harm you severely."

"It's a risk." Rose said defiantly. "If I live, I'll have time to change the course of the ship and crash it onto the Second Moon of the Lunas. And if they are still docked onto our ship, I'll take those bloody bastards with me."

"We promised, Rose." Was all Donna could say.

"I know." Rose said regretfully. "But it's the only way."

No one denied it.

"Can you believe it Mickey? Seven years ago I was just a shop girl and you were just a mechanic." her voice broke a bit at the end. They weren't sure if it was from the static or not. "Take care of them Mick's, please."

"I will. I love you Rose Tyler."

"I love you too. I love all of you."

Donna and Martha held each other's hand as they said it back, each with their spare hand on Mickey.

"This isn't good-bye, you know." Rose said and they saw as the door opened behind her, the hiss of air filled the connection with static, just for a moment though, so the words Rose said next came in loud and clear. She had one hand on the door button and was easing the other toward the red one in the box. "It's just a new kind of hello."

Rose pressed the button and was out of their sight all in less than a second and then they were launched into space with a great _boom!_.

They all laughed in relief, but quickly composed themselves as Donna pressed down the button for the com.

"Rose, can you hear me? Rose?"

Rose.

**I love cliffhangers . I will start the new chapter as soon as I can and try to have it up as soon as possible. Let me know what you guys think, I love to hear it. Thank you ****samiamf69**** for your help with the Shadows, you are amazing. See you in a few days!**


	9. Chapter 9

**How is everyone doing? I don't really know what to say on this header because I might give something away. So… here is chapter 9. Thank you all for staying with me.**

**Chapter Nine: Into the Woods**

Everyone aboard the **TARDIS **had fallen into a bottomless pit of despair. Rory tried to get them to respond at first, he tried to make them laugh by doing stupid things "accidentally", but after a while he gave up. No one was in the mood. The Doctor had left the room silently about forty-five minutes ago and hadn't returned since.

Amy had wanted to follow him, but one look at River and she thought better of it. But now the silence had gotten to her. It was dangerous leaving Amy alone with her thoughts for too long.

Without looking at the others, she stood and ran up the stairs and into the long corridor. No one followed her. She wasn't exactly sure where to look first. She decided to check the Library/Pool, but he wasn't in there. She checked some of the storage rooms but found nothing but dust and bits of the past. She searched as far back in the space ship as she dared, finding the old control room where she had watched Idris die. She even found the Doctor's souvenir room. She had entered hesitantly and came out alone a few minutes later.

Closing the door behind her, she turned back to look at it with her head cocked to one side, her forehead wrinkled in curiosity. "I wonder how he got Amelia Earhart's plane through that door."

Amelia had finally given up on finding the Doctor. If he wanted someone to be with him, he would have stayed with his friends. Amy looked down at her wrist to check the time, but it was bare. She remembered taking it off before her shower earlier. She went back through the corridors and found her room. When she was coming back out, buckling her wrist, she noticed that the door just across from her and Rory's was ajar. As far as she knew no one had ever used that room. She walked crossed the small hallway and pushed the door open softly.

The room was barely lit. There were random piles of clothes on the floor, shoes without matches littered the floor, papers and pictures were tacked to the wall. Amy looked closer and saw a younger Rose and young black man laughing and smiling together. Another of an older blond woman who looked a lot like Rose, she guessed this was her mum. There were two or three pictures of an older, short haired man with big ears and a dark leather coat. But there were more pictures of Rose and a tall man with brownish hair than anything else. He wore brown or blue suits, and occasionally wore dark rectangular glasses. And converse. It took Amy a moment to realize that it was Rose's husband. But in one of the pictures he was pointing a sonic screwdriver at the camera, his face close to laughing. Why did he have a sonic screwdriver and where was her Doctor in all of these?

"She took that one after we met Queen Victoria."

Amy jumped and turned around. The Doctor was sitting on the unmade bed. There was something soft, but dark looking in his right hand.

"Did you know that most of the Royal Family are werewolves?"

Amy shrugged and sat down next to him. "That explains Princess Anne."

The Doctor smiled a bit.

"What is that you're holding?" Amy nodded towards the clump of fabric.

He handed it to her. It was a wrinkly, purple blouse.

"This was her room." Amy stated. "Rose's room."

He nodded. "I have had a lot of companions, Amelia. Some of them, like you and Donna, were my best friends. Some of them I…cared for, but Rose…Rose was so much more."

"Why haven't you mentioned her before?"

"The past is the past." He said simply. "Time can change a person. I still love her, but I know that she is happy with…John. And Noble."

"Yeah, was he your companion too?" she pointed to the pictures on the wall. "He's everywhere."

He smiled. "John is a long, long story, for another time."

He knew that she wanted more, but she didn't push it. It must be killing her, restraining herself.

"We_ will _save her." Amy said.

The Doctor's head shot up. He grabbed her face and kissed the top of Amy's head. "You are a genius!"

The Doctor ran from the room. Amy took time in setting the purple blouse on the bed and then chased after him as fast as she could.

_Rose…Rose…Rose_

She heard her name echoed in her aching head…in the muffled voices of Donna, Mickey, and Martha.

"Rose, can you hear me? Rose, answer me please!"

She smelled smoke. She heard screaming metal and the electronic crackle of loose wires.

"Rose! Rose!"

She opened her eyes, but shut them tightly. It was so bright. Too bright and hot. They were in the middle of deep, dark beyond, but it felt like the sun was shining right on her. She slowly opened her eyes, still squinting, against the harsh light. There were spots of random flame spitting up from the open, sparking wires.

And she was wet, at least her face was. Rose put a hand on her head and yelped in pain. Her palm came away red with blood. She wiped her head and hand off on her shirt, now smudged with ash.

"Rose, are you there?" the muffled voice came again.

"Donna!" she called. "Mickey, Martha, can you hear me!"

"The com is out. I doubt she can hear us." Rose heard Martha say. "That is if she's…"

"I'm alive!" Rose yelled, hurting her head even more. "I'm alive."

"Rose if you can hear us, we are going to get help."

"I know," Rose whispered. "I know."

"We are Rose," Donna's voice faded in and out. "I swear we are."

And then there was silence and Rose was completely alone. It was time to get to work.

Rose pulled herself up; her ribs hurt like hell, she was sure that at least one was broken. She held her them as she limped out of the room.

As she entered the corridor a cold voice echoed around her, making her head pound, like a drum. "Thirty minutes until impact."

Rose knew that if she didn't hurry she would never make it in time, but just thinking about it made her body hurt more. But she started moving faster and faster even though her body was screaming at her to stop.

After about five minutes, she had to stop. She hadn't gone but five levels, and she was already crying in pain. It was quiet, too quiet. And the lights were flickering, even though the blast from the pod wouldn't have reached that far. Rose stopped herself from crying by biting her lip. She backed up against the wall as she saw the dark creeping toward her. She felt the cool, smooth metal of a doorknob, prayed it was unlocked, and turned it. It clicked and she slid inside, quietly. The light was on and glowing steadily. The room she had found herself was a small room for the engineers so they could rest on their breaks. She didn't breathe as a shadow crept under the door and towards her. She was just hoping if she didn't make any sound, it wouldn't know she was there. But her racing heart beat loudly and sounded like a drum to her. The Shadow got closer and closer as Rose quietly backed against the wall. It was about to touch her toes when suddenly, it was gone…just gone.

Rose let out a breath and sunk to the floor, which made her gasp in pain, but she felt relieved.

"Twenty minutes until impact." The ghostly voice reminded her. With a deep breath she pushed herself up again and stepped into the bright corridor. She didn't have time at that moment to think what could have scared it away and started running again.

It took her another five minutes to reach the control rooms. By the time she got there, she was sure that she was going to die _before _the impact; she was in so much pain.

With only 15 minutes until she and whatever part of Earth she hit turned to dust, Rose sat down at the pilot's station and flicked the fuzzy screens on. Suddenly she realized the flaw in her only plan: the Shadows were still docked to the ship. They could appear without warning and stop her.

But just as soon as she realized this, she instantly knew what to do. It was impossible and completely mad, but just maybe she could do it.

Rose logged on to the mainframe, her fingers moving faster on the keyboard than they ever had before, and searched until she found the link she was looking for. Surprisingly, she was able to get past the Shadow's firewall with ease. She worried for a moment that it was _too_ easy, but pushed it to the back of her mind. The plan slowly became clear as she realized that it may just work. It was mad but it might just work.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins, keeping her from feeling much pain as she typed in different passwords.

Maybe, just maybe, she could change the course of Torchwood I and then Time Lock the ship with the Shadows still docked to her ship. She could bring them all down and save Earth. She wouldn't be able to save herself, but she had already come to terms with that.

Rose took a deep breath and pressed ENTER. The ship slowly began to turn as it followed the coordinates she had entered. And a great roar filled the ship as the Shadows realized what she had done. She worked quickly as she heard what sounded like a thousand screeching demons running towards her. Her heart beat faster and faster. She was almost done setting the Time Lock as the airtight, two feet thick, steel door behind her started expanding and bending as the Shadows beat against it. She felt sweat on her brow, making the think cut on her forehead burn a bit. At least it had stopped bleeding.

Rose clicked ENTER one last time and then turned to face the bulging doors. It was silent again, but not the kind of silence that the Shadows brought. They had left, retreated to their own ship to try to take the Time Lock off. Rose wasn't sure if they could do it or not, the Doctor had said that nothing could override a Time Lock, but they had already realized they were fighting the impossible.

Rose sat back in her chair as she waited for something—_anything_—to happen. She jumped a few minutes later as she heard the cold voice of the ship speak again.

"Ten minutes until impact."

Rose took a deep breath. It hurt her ribs, she gasped in pain and she wrapped her arm around her sides. She felt something poking her from her pocket. She reached into her inner suit pocket and pulled out a little square. It was the picture of her husband and daughter. She had forgotten she had put it in there. She unfolded it carefully, even though it had already been beat up beyond repair, and looked at their frozen faces. She was ready to say good-bye now, all her fear had disappeared, but now she had no way to. Out of all the chances she had had that night, she never said goodbye. Now how was she supposed to?

Rose looked at the screen again and ran through some of the files until she found what she wanted. She turned the Interface Messenger on, but she didn't think she could tell John she wasn't coming home. She could tell anyone else but John. It wasn't because she was afraid of how he would handle it, even though it was a contributing factor, but it was more, if she said goodbye, then that was it. Maybe she could send the message to Donna and have her tell John…no. She would tell him anyways.

So then who? Who was left? Not her mum, or Pete, or Jack. Maybe Martha and Mickey, but at the same time, she didn't want to send it to them. There was one person she wanted to talk to: her husband.

What about the Doctor?

_No. _

Why should she send her last words to him—even if she could? He broke her heart, he sentenced her to her death and the death of all those she cared about. All those she thought _he_ cared about.

But why?

This question had plagued her all night: why would he not help. She didn't really believe what he had said. He wasn't like that, he never had been. So why would he say all those things to her?

_Could he have..? _Rose shook her head, banishing the thought. Of course he hadn't known what was going to happen, how could he? _Well he is a time traveler…_

But why couldn't he have just told her? What could have stopped him from telling her?

A little voice whispered in the back of her: _you._

Rose looked at the Interface Pad. But she didn't know where to send it.

With her last hope gone. Rose looked back down at the picture in her hand, her eyes pricking with tears. The ship lurched and Rose dropped the picture to check the screen. It was just turbulence from the ship picking up speed, not the Shadows detaching themselves. She could see the Second Moon of Lunas now. It was a little orange planet that could not host life. And she was about to crash into it.

Rose carefully leaned down to pick up the picture, image down, wanting to hold it to her as it happened, but stopped. She looked at the back of the picture as she brought it slowly to her face.

"How?" she asked and looked up at the moon again. "How?"

But then she laughed. Of course, why hadn't she realized it before? Was she really that thick?

Rose selected STM on the screen and pressed in the coordinates as if she had done it every day all for her whole life. She programed it so that the message would send as soon as she pressed stop.

_I can do this_, she thought. _I can be grown up about this and just say what I need to say._

Rose stood on the Interface Pad and took another deep breath, ignoring the pain in her side. She wasn't sure what she was going to say, but there seemed to be just one thing she could say after she pressed the start button on the remote and the light signaled that it had begun recording.

"Doctor, if you're getting this message, then I'm dead. I'm sorry to tell you like this, but I don't have a lot of time to explain. I know you're trying to figure out how I'm sending this message, but it will all be explained in time." Rose could just picture the Doctor's face as she spoke, his mouth opening in a little 'o' as he tried to figure it out so she held up her hand to stop him. "You have to stop thinking about how this is possible and listen to me."

"When we meet again, I am going to ask you for your help." Rose stopped for a moment, unsure if she could say the words without breaking down; her eyes began to tear up. "Doctor, you must not help me."

Of course it had been her who had told the Doctor. Who else would he have listened to? And the picture had given her all the proof she needed to take the leap of faith.

She knew the Doctor would be angry with her for saying it so she spoke again. "Don't talk to me like that."

She wanted to smile at this; she knew him so well, even after all these years away from him.

"I know that goes against everything you've ever done, but Doctor, you have to listen to me." Rose ran her hand though her hair and felt the blood and ash between her fingers. She must look a fright. "I've seen what happens if you help me and it makes the universe collapsing into the Void look like an okay thing."

She tried not to shiver at the thought.

"Doctor, I…" Rose couldn't think of what to say. It was all kind of funny, if she really thought about it.. She smiled and laughed, but winced a bit from the cut above her eye. "It's just I, had this whole speech planned and now…now I can't think of what to say." She said to the invisible Doctor. "This just keeps happening doesn't it though? I mean five years ago, we were on a beach having a conversation almost like this. Except, then you were telling me I was dead and telling me good-bye, now here I am telling _you_ I'mdead and telling _you _good-bye. It's almost funny isn't, in a crazy way?"

Rose felt a tear fall from her eye, but she laughed a bit as she wiped it away. "I told myself I'd be grown up about this and not cry. You can see how that worked out."

The ship spoke to her again. "All passengers evacuate to escape pods. Two minutes until impact."

God, she wanted to laugh. It was so funny how the universe worked. Rose wiped another tear off her cheek and smiled. "Told you: we even have the same amount of time as last time."

Rose was silent for a moment, but then realized she might as well take advantage of her extra time, and stood up straighter, like she would if she was on a conference call with the Queen. But this person was much more important than the queen and she need to make him think that she was strong and that she could do this.

"Doctor, since I have time, there are a few more things that I'd like to say: I don't regret a second of my time with you. Not a second. Not a second of our time together or my time with John."

John. She had almost forgotten that she was ready to say goodbye. She felt the tears before she could stop them. "Oh, God, John. If…if you see him, tell him…" Rose cried, but she knew that it wasn't a good idea, letting John know that the Doctor had refused to help her, even if she knew now that it was all a big misunderstanding. She had told Mickey, Martha, and Donna not to say anything to anyone when she had gotten back from the Other Earth. "No, don't tell him anything. Don't. I don't know what he'll do, and he needs to be stable for Noble."

"60 seconds until impact."

_Oh God, _Rose had never been much of a prayer. But now she wished that she had believed there was something else for her to believe in. She looked up, trying to avoid looking back at the camera. Tears ran freely. She looked back at the camera, at the Doctor.

"I forgive you for what you said—what you're going to say, I guess. That is, if you'll forgive me, for what I'll say. I didn't mean any of it; I was just angry and hurt. I didn't understand why you wouldn't help. I do now."

Rose was struggling to talk now. But then she remembered Amy and her husband, Rory. And River. Amy's face had been almost sick when Rose had been yelling at the Doctor, telling him all the things she knew would get to him.

The girls name just slipped out. "Amy. Amy, I hope you and your husband don't take what I say to heart, I just wanted to hurt the Doctor like he had hurt me. I hope you understand that, and I wish you all the best."

"And River, it was nice seeing you again. I hope you and the Doctor figure it out, because, I have this feeling that you are very important." This could be the way Rose thanked River, for everything she did the day that she had given her the Diviner. For that saving her life that day and for…well she didn't want to think about what the Diviner had shown her earlier that night when she was getting the hand.

She knew she had to say it one more time. "Doctor, I know I've already said this but I need to say it again, because I know you'll hate yourself if I don't make it clear: I forgive you."

"Impact in ten, nine…"

Rose jumped. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the craters that asteroids had left the moon's surface. She had excepted that she was going to die but that didn't mean she wanted to. She sobbed. "Doctor…"

"Seven, six…"

"But I need to tell you, since I never got the chance to say it," Rose was speaking faster, trying to beat the limited time the ship had set on her heart. "It was really great seeing you again."

And she knew. She knew just like the Doctor had known all those years ago. She turned to her left and spoke for the last time, the remote for the Interface in her hand and ready to click. "And…and I will always love you."

She turned it off and the message was instantly sent.

"Four, three…"

Rose closed her eyes and held the picture of her family to her chest.

"Two…"

One.

There was nothing. But she was guessing she wasn't dead because she still felt the pain in her side. She didn't want to open her eyes, afraid that this was some faulty timer and if she opened her eyes she would be opening them just in time to witness as she hit the moon. But there was nothing, and after a few seconds, Rose opened her eyes.

It was the familiar scenery of the **TARDIS **filled her mind. Was she in heaven? Was there a heaven?

"Rose?" she heard her name said quietly. She looked up and saw the new face of the Doctor. He smiled. "Rose, you are safe."

He put his arm around her and she sobbed into his chest in relief.

"You're home, Rose, and you are safe."

**So this is the second to the last chapter of Lost in Time. I am going to have the next chapter sometime soon. But this is where I would like you to voice your questions so I can answer what I can in the next chapter. Also I am planning on writing a sequel and a prequel story to Lost in Time if people respond well to the idea. So that should answer most of the questions that you have. But please let me know and I will explain. I would love to hear what you guys are thinking. Thank you, see you soon.**

** Love,**

** Lost**


	10. Chapter 10

**I now present you with the final chapter of "Lost in Time." Thank you.**

**Chapter Ten: Where the Truth Lies**

"Ow!"

Rory frowned. "Sorry, but if you would just stop squirming around."

"You are sewing my skin together; I think I am entitled to a little squirming around."

The Doctor watched Rose and Rory from afar. Rose was clean and wore a little white tank top which was pulled up enough so he could see the tan wrapping bandage around her waist. Rory said she was going to be kicking arse in just a few weeks, but the Doctor couldn't get the image of Rose when she had first materialized on the **TARDIS **an hour ago out of his mind.

_"You're home Rose, and you are safe."_

_ Rose threw her arms around him, sobbing. He held her tight against him as the other's watched. He rubbed her head gently._

_ "I thought, I thought—" she sobbed._

_ "I know and I am so sorry Rose. I wanted to come sooner, but I couldn't, I am so sorry." He kissed the side of her head and hugged her more tightly._

_And she screamed._

_ He let go of her and she fell to the ground, clutching her ribs, tears streaming down her dirty cheeks. When the tears mixed with the blood, it tinted them red; he hadn't noticed this when she was a hologram. _

_ "What is it, what's wrong?" the Doctor reached to touch her, but pulled back unsure of what to do. Rory rushed over and knelt down at her side, his instincts taking over. _

_ "Where does it hurt?" he asked, pulling her arm gently away from her side._

_ "My ribs…I think, ah!" she cried as he pushed down on her side carefully. _

_ Rory pulled her shirt up and revealed a large, plate-sized bruise forming on the right side of Rose's waist._

_ "Broken." He confirmed. "Amy, help me get her to the medic chamber—first would you mind helping her into the shower, so I can stich her up before that cut becomes infected."_

_ Amy and River both assisted her up and they slowly moved from the room, leaving the Doctor standing off to the side, his shirt splattered in blood from her clothes. _

_ About twenty minutes later, he heard her screaming and ran up the stairs until he found them in the medic chamber. She was sitting up on the metal gurney in the center of the room, in clean clothes that he recognized and guessed they had come from her old room (courtesy of Amy). The white shirt was pulled up high, just under her breast, so that her white bra was showing, as Rory wrapped the bandage as fast and tight as he could. River looked like she was trying to hold Rose's hand, but had ended up keeping her still, instead. Rose's free hand was holding a white, blood stained cloth to her head. Amy stood far off to the side, watching and biting her thumbnail. Unsure of what to do, he the Doctor took a place beside Amy._

_ Rose, took a shallow breath. "I'm sorry, it just HURTS!" She jumped as Rory pulled it tight, one last time. _

_ Rory pinned it to the bandage and pulled her shirt down. _

_ "Let's get that cut fixed up, it should only need one or two…"_

"So are you going to tell me how you did it?" Rose said to the Doctor as Rory finished up, taking off his rubber gloves with a snap.

"The Diviner—this metal disk that—"

"Yeah, I know all that, but how did that worthless thing help you? Didn't do a thing for me…well, maybe a little."

"It was something Amy had said: we will save her." he stepped closer to Rose. "I realized we had asked it the questions we thought that we were meant to. What we didn't ask was: if we were _going _to save her and if your death was a fixed point. It said yes to the first and no to the second."

"Huh. And how did it say you would save me?"

The Doctor looked down at his feet. "That questioned had already been asked before."

"By?"

The Doctor met her eyes. "It wouldn't say."

"What does that mean?"

"It said that the information was 'unavailable'."

Rose didn't know what to say to that so she went back to the point. "So then how did you do it?"

The Doctor sat on the table next to Rose. "Well, I used the most powerful weapon in the world: _my _mind."

River rolled her eyes.

"After doing much mathematical, timey-wimey…stuff, I realized that we had a two and a half second gap where we could fly in and save you and then get out before the ship blew." He was emphasizing with his hands. He glanced at her. "By the way, wonderful plan. But there are now orange asteroids floating around space like…traffic cones."

Rose's mind was reeling. "So you appeared in a _two and half second _gap? Is that even possible?"

River stood by her mother. "Rose, you are in the medical room of a space ship that travels through time, talking to a 907 year old Time Lord, and you just asked if _that _was possible?"

Rose shook her a bit. "I just can't believe…I was sure I was dead." She looked up at the Doctor. "Oh, my God, John and the others—the world?"

"Are all safe; you are a hero Rose." The Doctor said.

Rose looked up at River, sure she was thinking the same thing:

_Rose nodded. She had a few silent tears on her cheeks. "What's going to happen to my family? My friends?"_

_ River smiled. "They are going live, Rose, I swear."_

_ "And…and me?"_

_ River's face fell. _

"_You're a hero Rose." Was all River could say._

"What?" Amy asked looking between River and Rose, seeing the connection they were having.

But Rose didn't answer her; she spoke to River as if they were old friends. "You couldn't just tell me? For so long, I worried, I mean…"

"Spoilers." River smiled. She couldn't tell Rose the truth. She couldn't tell her what her future held, not when River was unsure of her own past.

Rose laughed, despite the tension in her body. "You said that when we first met."

The Doctor spoke. "Yes now it is time for you to explain that."

Rose and River exchanged a look.

"Spoilers." They said together.

The Doctor shook his head and didn't push it. "Rose, you need to get some sleep. You all do. You'll be home in the morning."

Rose smiled. "Is my room..?"

"In the same place it will always be."

They all retired to their own rooms, exhausted from the day. But the Doctor went to the control room and stared at the screens, not really seeing them, only seeing Rose's face as she cried out in pain as he did nothing. He decided it was probably time for him to go talk to Rose, to see if she was alright, but when he turned he saw her waiting for him on the steps.

"I thought you had gone to bed, how long have you been sitting there?"

Rose said nothing, just watched him, her face serious. Finally she said "You broke the rule Doctor."

"No, I explained this: the Diviner—"

"Said you'd save me. But you broke the rule _before _you asked the Diviner."

The Doctor said nothing. He was hoping she wouldn't figure out it had been him, had hoped she would think it was River.

Rose stood up carefully, holding on to the railing for support with one hand on her side. She walked up to the controls, on the far side, away from him. She put her hand on the **TARDIS**, stroking it lovingly, like a pet. After a moment of silence she looked up at him, flipping her blonde hair a bit.

"One of these days you aren't going to be able to save me." she said, her eyes flashing a bit.

"Are you _put out _with me for saving you?" he asked grinning a bit because this was just so Rose.

She shook her head. "No, not at all. I just want you to know that you can't save everyone."

_I know. _The Doctor pressed some buttons on the panel, he wasn't really doing anything but it kept him from looking at her. "Of course I can."

Rose said nothing. She watched him as he pretended to be busy.

"Were you going somewhere?"

"What?"

"When you turned around, you looked like you were going somewhere."

"Oh, right well, it's not really any of your business when I have to use the toilet, is it?" he still didn't look at her.

"I thought maybe you were going to go see River."

He stopped.

"She's your wife isn't she? You got married."

"It's a bit of a funny story, actually…"

"I know the story, I read all about it after I first met her. I wouldn't really say it was _funny _exactly." When the Doctor glanced up at her she was smiling. "So were you planning on telling me, or..?"

"I was on my way to see you." He said, flipping through some images of the first Geneva Convention. It might be nice to take the others somewhere without war for a bit.

"Really?"

"Yes I thought that we should talk." He found the planet called Geneva.

"'Bout?"

He said nothing and continued to play with the screen.

"I didn't mean it." Rose said, stepping closer to him. He didn't look up at her, but she could tell he was glancing. "I didn't mean it when I said I hated you."

"Yes, I know." The Doctor smiled and finally did look up at her. "Permission to hug Captain Tyler?"

"Permission granted."

The Doctor carefully wrapped his arms around her and she him, happy to feel her heart beating against his chest.

"I missed you Rose." He whispered in her ear and gave her a kiss on the side of her head.

Rose breathed him in deeply, wanting to savor this moment. "I missed you too."

"You know, you could always—"

"No, I couldn't." Rose pulled back to look at his face. "Even if I could, you were right."

He nodded. "Probably, but what about exactly?"

"You have new companions, you don't need me tagging along."

He shook his head. "Rose, you know I didn't mean that."

She nodded and looked at him reassuringly. "Yes I know that but I know that my time is up for now. I had you for my turn. I am just glad that you are not alone."

"You don't have to leave Rose."

"I will never leave you Doctor." She said and kissed his cheek. She smiled up at him. "But I am pretty sleepy and those pills Rory gave me for the pain could knock a horse out, so I am going to leave you for my bed."

The Doctor laughed for what had to have been the first time since he got the message from Rose.

"Good night Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth."

"Good night Doctor." Rose began to walk away but stopped and turned back to him. She pulled something out of her pocket and set it near his hand on the panel.

He watched as she slowly made her way up the stairs and out of sight. It wasn't until he heard her echoing footsteps retreating down the corridor that he picked up the picture she had given him.

It was the picture of her, the Meta-Crisis Doctor, and the baby Noble. It looked worse than it had earlier, torn in some places and dog eared in the lower corner. He flipped it over and read the writing on the back:

The Neptune Solar System, Friday, 4:22 P.M. 6543.45832

_ "Our daughter." Rose smiled and pulled a picture out of the black bag. It was of three people: an obviously tall, laughing man, with spiky hair in jeans and black suit jacket lying down across a laughing Rose's lap. Both were looking at a little blond haired girl laughing and clapping her hands, who was sitting in between them. _

_ "She is beautiful." The Doctor said, awestruck as he took the picture from her._

_ "How did you find us?" Rory asked…_

_ The Doctor pulled a pen out of his sleeve, hoping no one would notice, and quickly wrote down everything. He was breaking the rule, one he had set long ago. But it was Rose. He burned up a sun just to say goodbye to her. At least he could give her this chance to say goodbye._

_ After he was done he looked at the picture, really looked at it. She was so happy. The Meta-Crisis Doctor had a bit of grey in his hair, and their little girl looked just like Rose, except the hair was a bit darker. She was happy, happier than the Doctor had ever seen her. _

_ Rose gently took the picture back from him, not noticing the new writing on its back. Not knowing he had just given her the chance to say goodbye. Not knowing she was about to hate him._

_ "I miss them so much."_

I will fix this Rose, _he wanted to say. _I will get you get back to them.

Underneath the Doctor's quick scrawl, written in a different ink from the blue he had written in were the words _thank you_.

The Doctor didn't look at the picture again, but put it in his breast pocket. There was one last thing he was supposed to do now.

River crept along one of the dark corridors of the **TARDIS**, her hand sliding along the smooth walls until she found the door she was looking for.

She opened the plain brown door of the Doctor's souvenir room and slid inside. It was dark, but she found the light switch quickly. She had been in there a million times before, but she hadn't told anyone that.

She looked on the various shelves of the room, it was a big room, and the walls were lined with shelves. None contained the Diviner. She decided that maybe the Doctor hadn't put it back yet and turned to leave.

She yelped in surprise as she saw the Doctor leaning against the brown door with his arms crossed over his chest, the Diviner in his right hand.

"Looking for something?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes: you. I wanted to talk to you, and I you weren't in the…how long have you been standing there?"

He pushed off the door and walked over to her. "I've had this conversation already tonight. Boring."

"I'm here for the Diviner."

"Yes I figured that." He was circling her, looking her up and down. He looked a little disappointed. "You know, just when I think I know you River Song, you end up surprising me. I don't like surprises."

"That's not true, you love surprises. Just last month, when we were fighting off the Bijouz, you said you loved it when they surprised you with that third head. Well, third and a half."

The Doctor said nothing, just watched her. He turned away and grabbed a tan leather bag that was sitting on one of the many shelves, put the Diviner in it, and handed it to her.

She eyed him suspiciously.

"Isn't this what you were looking for?"

River took the bag, still looking at him. "Are you angry with me sweetie?"

The Doctor wanted to be, he did, but he just couldn't. He gave her a stern look. "No, but in the future, when you are stealing things from me to save my friends, just tell me, it will save you a lot of time."

He wasn't sure why he did it, maybe it was because of the way she smiled at him, but he leaned in and kissed her quickly on the lips. He was already walking away by the time she had recovered from her surprise.

"Good night River."

She mumbled something, but he couldn't understand it. He smiled, content.

Rose glanced around her room, wishing she could just pack it up and take it with her. She inhaled the scent of her sheets, they still smelled like her old perfume, just faintly, but enough to make her stomach hurt as she remembered. The pictures on the wall still looked fresh, like she had just put them up. She had looked them over the night before after her talk with the Doctor and chose one she wanted to take with her. Rose put it in her pocket of her jeans (which she had been afraid wouldn't fit since she had worn them before she got the mum butt, but they had slid on smoothly).

There was a knock on her door. It was Rory with more pain killers. She promised she would take them and see an actual doctor once she was back on her Earth. The Doctor had told her earlier that morning, when she had been eating breakfast with the other companions, that the Time Lock on her Earth had become void after the Shadow's ship had been destroyed. Everyone was already back at home. The Doctor had tried to send a message to Torchwood HQ, telling them that Rose was alive, but he hadn't gotten it through, because the lines were down.

But she was going home today. With one last look around, Rose followed Rory out of the room.

"So, I guess this is goodbye." Amy looked glum. She was hoping that she would get a chance to talk with Rose, but she hadn't been in her room last night when she had gone to talk to her. She thought she'd get a second chance at breakfast but the Doctor had been there the whole time. Amy _needed _to know some juicy facts about the Doctor and she was sure Rose could supply some. Like maybe his actual name.

Rose looked much better than she had last night, even after her shower. Amy had made her laugh, asking her what kind of person got a tattoo _there_, but she hadn't really looked at or spoken to Amy since.

Rose knew she would have to talk with her—them all—eventually. But she was putting it off. She knew now why the Diviner had shown her what it had shown her, because she would live and get the chance to warn Amy.

"I'm afraid so." Rose said, her eyes watching the Doctor as he worked. River was with him, following him around, turning things off, turning things on. And the Doctor kept glaring at her as she did so; she was ruining his fun.

"Oh, River just let him do it. I kinda miss the sound." Rose laughed.

River rolled her eyes but stood back and let him work.

The Doctor didn't look up as he programmed in the destination she had given him. But he made a face. "Torchwood still has a house in the countryside?"

Amy frowned. "What do you mean 'still'?"

The Doctor glanced at Rose who was smiling the Rose Smile. Together they said "Werewolves."

Everyone, even River, looked at them as if they were crazy. Rose giggled and answered the original question. "_I_ live in the countryside. I am not going back to work until I see my family."

The Doctor nodded and pulled the handle forward and they blasted off. It wasn't as rocky as she remembered, Rose was sure this was because he didn't want to hurt her ribs, and partly because River had pressed one last button before they had taken off.

Rose laughed at the sound of the breaks grinding and yelled. "I love that noise!"

The others laughed along with her. When they had landed, the Doctor said he wanted to sonic the area for a bit, to see how bad the damage the open Void had done and stepped out of the **TARDIS**, leaving them alone. Before Amy had even opened her mouth, Rose was speaking quickly and quietly.

"Listen to me, all of you. In a very short time you all are going to have to make a choice, a very difficult choice, between the Doctor and something else really important." Rose took a breath. "Amy, the choice will be mostly up to you, being the Doctor's best friend and all. But you will not be alone. You will have help from the Children of Time. We will be there and ready to help you."

"What are you talking about?" Amy looked at Rose as if she were crazy.

Rose didn't really answer. "You are not going to choose the Doctor, Amy."

Amy froze. "What?"

"You are not going to choose him and that will be the right choice."

No one said anything. Amy looked to River for help but she looked just as confused.

Rose looked at River. "And River, I swear to God that if anything happens to her, I will kill you myself."

River nodded, she seemed to understand this a bit.

"What—?" Amy tried to respond but just then the Doctor poked his head into the **TARDIS**.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be: it's just a crack; we'll fix it on our way out." He looked at Rose. "Are you ready to go?"

Rose smiled, though it didn't meet her eyes. "On my way out."

The Doctor disappeared and Rose's face became serious again as she looked at them. Rose hugged Rory first and then River and Amy last.

"I'm sorry, Amy." She whispered in her ear.

Rose walked out the door and left them all stunned.

"I just realized," Rory said quietly. "We never asked her how she knew where to send the message."

No one said anything. Amy got the feeling that this would not be the last time they saw Rose Tyler. They could ask her when they met her again.

Rose closed the doors behind her as they disappeared with the same feeling that she would see them all again.

The Doctor had missed Rose's house by about half a mile so they had to walk. They walked in silence for a while. Sometime in, the Doctor grabbed Rose's hand, just like the old times. They both smiled when he pointed this out.

He had changed so much from her old Doctor, the man she knew and loved. His worry lines had become laugh lines on his boyish face. But he was darker than his old self, she sensed, and she was sure that there was a great reason for this. An adventure she had missed as she became a wife, a mother, and a leader. She realized that the Doctor wasn't the only one who had changed.

"Are you nervous?" he asked as they walked along the small country road, hand in hand.

She nodded. "They think I am dead."

"They will be relieved, Rose."

Rose changed the subject. "So, where are you off to next?"

The Doctor played along. "I was thinking Barcelona, not the planet, but the country. I think my companions need a well-deserved holiday."

"You say that and then something bad happens. Every time."

He looked aghast. "Not true!"

"Every time."

They laughed and as they rounded the corner, it came into view: Rose's house. It was small, technically a cottage, with flowers out front and red roses that traveled up a lattice on the side of her house. There were three cars parked out front: A black jeep with Torchwood indented on its side, a Mercedes with a personalized yellow license plate that said PETE #1.

Rose took a deep breath, this time it didn't hurt her ribs.

"Are you ready?"

"I—"

"Rose!"

The Doctor and Rose turned as John ran out of the house, his face filled with disbelief and relief. "Rose!"

Rose ran towards him, leaving the Doctor alone. They met just outside the gate and embraced.

"I thought—"

"I know, I know." She soothed back his wild hair and then they kissed. "I love you."

"I love you, I love you…" the words were lost between their lips.

The air filled with cries of "mummy!" and "Rose!" as the rest of Rose's family and friends—Donna, Martha, Mickey, and Jack. An ugly dog waddled out after them, barking like it had a chicken bone in its throat.

Everyone embraced Rose in their arms and embraced each other, crying in relief and joy. Rose hugged her little girl the longest, with John's long arms wrapped around them both. The Doctor could still hear them whispering I love you…

And this is how the Doctor left them. He walked away, his hands in his pockets and a sad but content smile on his face. He always hated goodbyes, that was why he was so awful at them. It was better this way, he told himself. He didn't need to have an awkward conversation with his friends about why he doesn't visit. It was enough to watch them from afar.

"Wait, Doctor!" He heard a little voice behind him. He was expecting it to be Rose, but it was Noble.

He stopped and she almost ran right into him, her dark blonde curls bouncing.

"Thank you Doctor, for bringing my mummy back." she said and hugged his leg. He looked down into her blue eyes. "Thank you Doctor."

The Doctor patted the girls head hesitantly.

"Noble, where have you swanned off too?" John called from a distant.

Noble ran off as not to worry anyone, but glanced back once before she disappeared around the corner and smiled. If was the smile of someone who was too wise for their years.

When the Doctor had gotten back to the **TARDIS **everyone looked like they were ready to throw sharp things at one another.

"Everything alright?" the Doctor said shutting the door behind him.

"Yes." They all said quickly, putting smiles on their faces that didn't reach their eyes.

"So where are we going today?" Rory asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"I was thinking you all could choose." The Doctor said with a smile.

"And you'll actually take us there?" River raised her eyebrows.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. How about someplace warm?"

Rory started naming off various places and the Doctor would comment. River glanced over at the silent Amy.

"What are you thinking, River?" Amy whispered.

"Right now I am thinking that the Doctor is right: we do need a holiday. Then we can worry about it."

"Who was she talking about, who are you supposed to—"

But River didn't answer; she was smiling like nothing was wrong as she addressed the Doctor. "You know every time you say that we need a break, something goes wrong."

The Doctor scratched his head. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Rory looked a little glum now. "We might as well go somewhere you want Doctor."

"Well I have been thinking the planet Geneva…"

Amy wanted to join the others, but she couldn't get Rose's words out of her head: _you are not going to choose the Doctor…_

Amy pushed this to the back of her mind. She would always choose the Doctor. Rose's warning and River's secrecy was now just an odd feeling in the back of her mind and a sharp butterfly loose in her stomach.

"So where do you think we should go, Amy?" Rory asked and they all looked at her, knowing that she would be the one to decide where they were going, that they would follow.

"What about Rio?"

**Thank you everyone for everything you've done. Thank you for all the great reviews and the help with posting problems. And your patience.**

** This is the end…or is it just the beginning? I am planning on writing a prequel to this story and if that goes over well, a sequel. The prequel will be about River and Rose mostly, which is weird for me. I am planning just five chapters for that one. It will be the story of how Rose and River met. If you are interested in this, please continue reading for a taste of the first chapter of "Forgotten in Time."**

River flipped through her **TARDIS **blue diary. According to it she was supposed to meet the Doctor, Amy and Rory in just eight more days, so they could go save some universe from the Bijouz. She had been looking forward to it for weeks, having only left her dingy cell twice in the last three months; she was beginning to get bored.

"There's some humans here to see you River." A guard said, tapping on her cell bars.

River stood up and opened up the door for him. They had stopped locking it all together now, knowing that it wouldn't stop her.

"They couldn't wait just a few more days, could they?" River smiled, leaning against the metal cell bars. "Is a man with a bow tie with them?"

"No, it's a couple of teens, girl and boy."

River's eye brows needed together.

"Is one red haired and the other, just sort of blonde, with a nose?" River motioned to the center of her face.

"The girl's hair is strawberry blonde and the boy's is black." He nodded. "He's pretty cute."

River smiled and raised her eyebrow. "I thought you were seeing David from accounting Reg?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't still _notice _other blokes." He said grinning. "So do you want me to allow them through?"

River nodded and the guard, Reginald, went to retrieve them. It was probably students, wanting to meet the famous Professor Song. River sat back down on her bed and slid the diary underneath her pillow, out of sight.

The guard returned with two young people. The girl had straight, shoulder length strawberry blond hair that stuck out from under a red, knitted beanie. Almost everything about her was red: her square rimmed glasses, her lipstick, her fitted sweater, and her boots. Her finger nails were even a shiny red. The only things that were not red were her black dress pants and a tan, cracked leather bag that hung over her shoulder. The boy was just a bit taller than the girl. He wore a dark blue (not **TARDIS** blue) long sleeved shirt and black denims. He did indeed have hair as black as the night. He was also very good looking.

The girl smiled at River. "Hullo, my name is Belle Noel Tyre and this is James Johnson."

"Jimmy." The boy raised his hand in the hair. "Hello."

"American?" River said, surprised.

"What gave me away?"

"The accent was a contributing factor."

"Ah, yes that gets me every time." He looked genuinely upset by this.

The girl shook her head. "Are we really having this conversation again?" she looked at River, apologetically. "It's a bit of an obsession of his."

River nodded. "Writing a paper on me are you?"

Belle and Jimmy glanced at each other.

"This is _so _weird." Jimmy whispered to her. "I mean _her _meeting _us_."

"Well it was going to happen eventually James." She whispered back.

River leaned forward and smiled. She whispered. "You do realize that this is a very small cell and that I can hear everything you are saying, since you are less than two feet away from me, don't you?"

Belle blushed.

"How old are you two? You can't be more than twenty."

"James is seventeen and I am sixteen."

"You're young, how did you get involved with…whatever it is you are here for?"

Belle and Jimmy exchanged another glance. It was James who answered. "We can't tell you that, sorry."

River nodded and leaned back, her eyes focused on Belle. "Tyre? That is a very unusual surname isn't it?"

"So is Song or…Pond." Belle smiled a bit.

River froze. "Reggie, why don't you go get a cup of tea?"

Reggie glanced up from Jimmy's backside. "I'm not supposed to leave you alone with guest."

"If she's going to run away, she's going to run away." Jimmy pointed out .

"Yes, go ahead and grab a cuppa tea, Reg." Belle said, smiling a charming smile, showing her straight white teeth.

Reggie gave them both a suspicious looks but turned and left. River stood and stared at them.

"Who are you?"

"Spoilers Ms. Song, spoilers." Belle reached into her leather bag and pulled out a plate sized metal disk with a hole in the middle of it. It gleamed in the fluorescent lights.

"What is that?"

"It is a Model 4 Diviner." Belle said. She looked at River uncertainly. "Do you…know what that is?"

"Vaguely."

"It is a type of device used to—" Belle began but Jimmy put a hand on her arm.

"It is all explained in the letter, Bells. Just give it to her." he said, pulling out a small manila envelope from the leather bag. He handed it to River, who took it hesitantly.

Belle nodded and handed the disk over to River. River put the envelope under her arm and took the disk in both of her hands. She looked it over.

"Careful, it can be…touchy." Belle backed up a bit.

"So what else can you tell me?" River said, eyeing them.

"Whatever you need to know is in there." Jimmy said nodding to the envelope and put a hand on Belle's upper arm, pulling her out of the cell.

Belle looked reluctant to leave, like she wanted to say more, but she didn't.

River stepped out of the cell with them, watching them back away. "Wait, when will I see you again?"

"_You _won't see us for quite some time."

"What do you mean that I won't? What, you will?"

Jimmy looked at the tight lipped Belle. "She said she would be by for lunch on Sunday, right?"

Belle nodded, still looking at River.

"What is it Miss Tyre?"

"I-I…" she looked up at James who gave her a gently frown. She looked back at River. "It was lovely meeting you Riv-Ms. Song."

And before she knew it, they had disappeared into the dark corridor. River stood there, dumbfounded (which didn't happen often), with the shiny disk in her hand and a light envelope in the other. After a silent minute, she stepped back into her cell, shutting the door with her elbow and sat down on the bed.

On the outside there was a note in familiar hand writing that said:

Belle and James, there is a note inside there for you, the rest is for the other one.

River looked at the handwriting. It was so familiar. She pulled the diary out from under her pillow. She opened it to a random page near the later pages and put the envelope and the page, side by side.

They were identical. The handwriting on the envelope was hers. Now even more curious, River reached deep into it and pulled out small microchip that had—in her handwriting—"River watch me" written on it in small letters.

River pulled out a loose brick from the wall behind her and a small sceen fell out on to the bedspread, along with some loose gravel from the wall.

River pushed the microchip into the little computer and a little menu hologram popped up in the air just above the screen. It was a video head shot of herself.

"Play." River ordered.

The image sprang to life. "So I see you have officially met Belle and James. Nice aren't they? Good kids, it's too bad that you won't see them again anytime soon. I will. But listen, I have a lot to tell you, and it's not something that is written in your diary…yet."

River knew she should feel confused, but this wasn't the first time she had gotten a mysterious message from herself. But this was the first time that she had had the message delivered to her.

The video continued. "There is a document attached to this chip that will give you times and dates, but I have to tell you face to face what you need to expect. Are you ready?"

River didn't know why, but she nodded. "Yes."


End file.
